SMU Steel Buyers Sentiment Index: 3MMA Slide Has Stopped

Buyers and sellers of flat rolled steel are slowly beginning to feel better about their company’s prospects both now and into the future, according to the results of the Steel Market Update (SMU) flat rolled steel market analysis just completed earlier today. SMU is reporting current market sentiment as being up +1 point to +44. The +44 is the highest level seen for our index since the middle of September.

As our readers know, looking at monthly (or in this case one set of data points from a survey which is conducted twice a month) data can be misleading. We like to “smooth out” the data by using a three month moving average (3MMA) and the 3MMA for our Current (business conditions now) Steel Buyers Sentiment Index is +37.67 and is higher than the prior 3MMA for the first time since mid-July 2015!