SMU Steel Buyers Sentiment Index: Little Changed

Both Current and Future Sentiment showed a slight decline as a single data point in the latest SMU Steel Buyers Sentiment Index, based on data gathered in mid-September. The index measures how buyers and sellers of flat rolled steel feel about their company’s ability to be successful both in the current market environment, as well as three to six months into the future.

Overall, the indexes have remained at optimistic levels throughout 2017, though the small but frequent ups and downs may reflect steel buyers’ fluctuating uncertainty about market conditions. Hurricane Irma and the destruction it brought to the Southeast last week may also have been weighing on respondents’ minds.