SMU Steel Buyers Sentiment: Feeling Flat

Industry sentiment has taken a pessimistic turn over the past four weeks as COVID-19 continues to outsmart government and health officials, who can’t seem to unite on a strategy that will stem the spread of the coronavirus. Steel Market Update’s Steel Buyers Sentiment Indexes had been improving since hitting bottom in early April, but dipped and flattened in recent weeks.

SMU asks steel buyers how they view their company’s chances for success in the current environment and three to six months in the future. The Current Sentiment reading this week stayed at +34, the same as two weeks ago and down 8 points from the first week of July. Current Sentiment hit a low of -8 in the first week of April, its lowest reading since November 2010.