Global News Of Note: S&P Metals’ Users PMIs Indicate Stagnation

What happens abroad impacts MSCI members in North America. Here is the latest economic, trade, and other policy news of note for the last week:

• The S&P’s Global Steel Users Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) for September pointed to a near-stagnation in operating conditions at the global level. At 50.2, the reading “was fractional and the weakest in the current growth sequence,” S&P said. Only Asia registered an improvement in operating conditions while Europe and the United States both contracted. Output rose at the global level, but new orders and employment fell.
• According to the S&P Global Aluminum Users PMI, operating conditions at global aluminum users deteriorated for the second time in three months in September. New orders fell for the third month while output rose only fractionally since backlogs were cut. Aluminum users also reduced their workforce numbers for the fourth time so far in 2023. They also cut their inventories of both inputs and finished goods. Among the three regions monitored, Europe registered the steepest downturn since May 2020, while a stagnation also was present in the United States and Asia, which have posted only marginal improvements since August. Read the full report here.
• September’s S&P Global Copper Users PMI revealed a renewed deterioration in the health of the global copper-using sector. The index fell from 50.1 in August to 49.3 in September, led by copper users in the United States and Europe. In contrast, copper users in Asia recorded a further improvement in conditions. At the global level, output, new orders, and jobs all fell at the same time since January. European copper users recorded the fastest decline in production since May 2020, while their U.S. counterparts cut output the most since January 2023. Read the full report here.