MSCI Metals Activity Report Shows Steel Shipments Up, Aluminum Down

Connecting the Dots monitors all major economic announcements in the United States and Canada, but 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 shipments rose in the United States and Canada between March 2022 and March 2023 while aluminum shipments fell. Specifically, U.S. service center steel shipments increased 2.5 percent year-over-year while aluminum shipments declined 10.7 percent. Canadian service center steel shipments rose 3.1 percent from March 2022 to March 2023, but aluminum product shipments were down 3.9 percent during the same period.
• The U.S. trade deficit widened in February as the value of exports fell more than imports. Specifically, the trade gap grew 2.7 percent to $70.5 billion, the highest level in four months. The value of imports fell 1.5 percent while exports were down 2.7 percent. The goods trade deficit rose to $104.6 billion because exports of consumer goods, motor vehicles, and capital equipment all declined in February.
• Statistics Canada reported the country ran a smaller-than-expected trade surplus in February due to widespread declines in exports and imports. Specifically, Canada’s trade surplus fell to C$422 million from a C$1.20 billion surplus in January. Analysts had forecast a C$1.80 billion surplus. Read the full report here.
• The Federal Reserve announced last week that U.S. industrial production rose 0.4 percent in March even though manufacturing and mining output each fell 0.5 percent. The index for utilities jumped 8.4 percent. Total industrial production in March was 0.5 percent above its level from a year earlier. Capacity utilization moved up to 79.8 percent in March, a rate that is 0.1 percentage point above its long-run average.
• According to the U.S. Census Bureau, orders for U.S. manufactured goods fell 0.7 percent in February to $536.4 billion while shipments decreased 0.5 percent to $542.8 billion. Unfilled orders dropped 0.1 percent and the unfilled orders-to-shipments ratio was 6.10, up from 6.09 in January. Inventories decreased 0.1 percent to $806.3 billion while the inventories-to-shipments ratio was 1.49, up from 1.48 in January.
• According to Statistics Canada, for the month of February manufacturing sales in the country fell 3.6 percent to $71.5 billion. The drop was due in large part to a 14.9 percent decline in petroleum and coal product sales and a 12.3 percent drop in motor vehicle sales. Overall, sales fell in 12 of the 21 industries. Sales of primary metals were down 4.2 percent.
• The U.S. economy added 236,000 jobs in March and the nation’s unemployment rate remained at a very low 3.5 percent. Read the full report here. In other employment-related news: during the week that ended April 8, 239,000 individuals filed for U.S. federal unemployment benefits for the first time, an increase of 11,000 from the previous week and the highest level for initial claims since January 15, 2022. The number of people who continued to receive jobless benefits fell, however.
• The Canadian economy added 35,000 jobs in March and the country’s unemployment rate held steady at five percent. Most of the job gains were in the private sector. Read the full report here.
• U.S. import prices fell 0.6 percent in March due to lower prices for fuel and nonfuel imports. Prices for U.S. exports fell 0.3 percent in March, after increasing 0.4 percent in February and 0.3 percent in January.
• In other economic news: in the United States, construction spending fell 0.1 percent from February 2023 to March 2023, but rose 5.2 percent from March 2022 to March 2023; Real average hourly earnings for all U.S. employees increased 0.2 percent from February to March; the U.S. Producer Price Index fell 0.5 percent from February 2023 to March 2023, but increased 2.7 percent from March 2022 to March 2023; the U.S. Consumer Price Index rose 0.1 percent from February to March and five percent year-over-year.