U.S., Canadian Metals Shipments Rose In January

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 monthly Metals Activity Report for January 2023 indicated U.S. and Canadian metals shipments all increased that month. Specifically, U.S. service center steel shipments jumped 7.4 percent from January 2022 to January 2023 while aluminum shipments rose 0.1 percent. Canadian service center steel shipments were up 4.1 percent year-over-year while shipments of aluminum products increased 0.5 percent from January 2022 to January 2023.
• According to the World Steel Association, crude steel production for the 63 countries that report to the organization fell 3.3 percent to 145.3 million tons from January 2022 to January 2023. Read the full report here.
• S. personal incomes rose 0.6 percent in January 2023 and disposable income was up two percent. At the same time, personal consumption increased 1.8 percent. The personal consumption expenditure (PCE) price index, a key indicator of inflation, increased 0.6 percent in January. Read the full report here.
• The manufacturing industry in the United States’ Midwest region expanded modestly this month. The Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City’s manufacturing index rose from -1 in January to 0 in February due to improvements in new orders, the number of employees, exports, and delivery time. Shipments were down, however.
• The U.S. Department of Labor reported that during the week that ended February 18, 192,000 individuals filed for federal unemployment benefits for the first time. The number was down from 195,000 the week before. The four-week moving average of first-time claims rose, however. The number of individuals who continued to receive jobless benefits fell to 1.654 million during the week that ended February 11 from 1.691 million the week before. The four-week moving average of continuing claims also dropped.
• According to Statistics Canada, the number of job vacancies in the country fell slightly 848,800 in December from 849,200 in November. Average weekly earnings were up 3.4 percent from December 2022 to December 2023. Read the full report here.
• In other economic news: Canadian auto production rose 12 percent in 2022, breaking a five-year streak of declining output; Canada’s consumer price index rose 5.9 percent from January 2022 to January 2023, down from a 6.3 percent year-over-year increase in December; and new home sales in the United States rose 7.2 percent from December 2022 to January 2023, but were down 19.4 percent between January 2022 and January 2023; and the University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment index rose to 67.0 in February from 64.9 in January. Read the report here.