Key Market Indicators January 28th 2014

An explanation of the Key Indicators concept is given at the end of this piece for those readers who are unfamiliar with it.

The total number of indicators considered by Steel Market Update at present is thirty six. The present situation of twelve of the indicators based on historical standards was positive on January 28th an increase of one from last month’s analysis, thirteen were negative, an increase of one and eleven considered to be neutral. The indicator that became positive in January was the Chicago Fed National Economic Index which currently has economic performance above the long term trend. The capacity utilization of the long product mills was moved from neutral to negative as its value declined to 76.1 percent. This continues to be one of the best results since this analysis was first published in March when seven indicators were positive by historical standards and fourteen were negative.