Economy
January 3, 2016
December 2015 at a Glance
Written by John Packard
The first thing that jumps out at you when taking a look at the December steel and economic data is the change in the direction flat rolled steel prices took early in the month as the domestic steel mills raised prices for the first time since the Spring 2015 (which resulted in a dead cat bounce). It is too early to tell if we will see the same kind of bounce over the next couple of months, but, our opinion is it feels like it has staying power provided the mills (AK/USS/AM) follow through with capacity reductions.
We continue to be concerned about our SMU Steel Buyers Sentiment Index (3MMA) which has been moving steadily lower for a number of months and December did not alter that trend.
