Steel, Aluminum Shipments Down In Canada And United States In March

Connecting the Dots monitors all major economic announcements in the United States and Canada, but the Metals Service Center Institute (MSCI) also offers industrial metals industry-specific data products that provide much deeper analysis and insight. Visit MSCI’s website and click on industry data to learn more about our Metals Activity Report (MAR), Momentum Monitors, and Economic Pulse.

Meanwhile, here are the major economic headlines from the last week:

• MSCI’s Metals Activity Report showed steel and aluminum shipments fell at double digit levels between March 2023 and March 2024. Specifically, U.S. service center steel shipments were down 12.3 percent year-over-year while shipments of aluminum products declined 14 percent. Canadian service center steel shipments fell 20.8 percent from March 2023 while aluminum shipments declined 17 percent.
• U.S. industrial production rose 0.4 percent in March, but declined at an annual rate of 1.8 percent in the first quarter of 2024. Manufacturing output increased 0.5 percent for the month, due mostly to a 3.1 percent gain in the motor vehicle and parts subsector. The index for mining fell 1.4 percent while the index for utilities rose two percent. At 102.7 percent of its 2017 average, total industrial production in March was unchanged compared to one year earlier. Read the full report here.
• Canadian manufacturing sales increased 0.7 percent, due mostly to a 4.3 percent increase in sales of petroleum and coal. Manufacturing sales were up in 13 of the 21 subsectors. Read the full report here.
• According to the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, manufacturing activity in its region, which includes eastern Pennsylvania, southern New Jersey, and Delaware, expanded significantly in April. The bank’s general activity index rose to +15.5 this month from +3.2 in March due mostly to a boost in new orders and shipments. The Federal Reserve Bank of New York said the manufacturing sector in its region remained in contraction territory for a fifth month in a row. The bank’s general business conditions gauge fell to -14.3 due to a decline in shipments and unfilled orders, but new orders increased.
• The number of people who applied for U.S. unemployment benefits for the first time stood at 212,000 during the week that ended April 13, the same level as the week before. Averaged over the past four weeks, first-time claims rose slightly to 214,500. In all, roughly 1.812 million people claimed jobless benefits in the United States during the week that ended April 6.
• In other economic news: the Conference Board’s Leading Economic Index fell by 0.3 percent in March, an indication of a potential slowdown in the U.S. economy; new U.S. home sales declined 4.3 percent between February 2024 and March 2024, but were up 1.5 percent between March 2023 and March 2024; and existing U.S. homes sales fell 4.3 percent between February and March and 3.7 percent year-over-year.