SMU Data and Models
March 20, 2014
SMU Steel Buyers Sentiment Improves
Written by John Packard
The possibility for steel prices to have, at the very least, bottomed and improving weather conditions across the United States and Canada have sparked an improvement in our Steel Market Update (SMU) Steel Buyers Sentiment Index. The index, which has been monitoring buyers and sellers of flat rolled steel since 2008, was reported earlier today at +43 representing an improvement of 6 points from our last measurement made at the beginning of March. The latest reading is just one point below the high for the year originally set during the middle of January.
The SMU Sentiment Index measures how buyers and sellers feel about their company’s prospects for success both in the current market environment as well as 3 to 6 months in the future. The current index at +43 is not only close to the high for the year but is one of the most optimistic readings we have seen from buyers and sellers of steel since the first quarter 2012 when Sentiment briefly flirted with +50 (falling short by 1 point in mid-January 2012).
