SMU Data and Models
September 22, 2016
SMU Steel Sentiment Index Takes Hard Dive
Written by John Packard
The Steel Market Update (SMU) Steel Buyers Sentiment Index dropped 14 points since we last measured Sentiment at the beginning of the month. The 14 point drop took the Current Index to +49, the lowest point for our index since the +44 reported during the first week of January 2016. The 14 point drop is also the largest single decline in our index since early September 2012 when it dropped from +34 to +19.
Even with the sharp drop our index is still well within the “optimistic” range (we provide a complete explanation of our numbering system at the end of this article) although the bloom is coming off the rose as the trend has been for a less optimistic flat rolled steel industry beginning in late June/early July of this year.
