| Interesting Times for Steel as Building Permits Surge in May | |
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Key Macro Factors Driving the Global Steel Industry This Year (Continued from Prior Part) Housing market gains
In the previous part, we saw that housing starts in the United States dipped in May. In this part of the series, we’ll look at the recent trend in building permits. This will help investors better understand the trend in the US housing sector.
Building permits surge in May
To construct any building, a builder has to get a building permit from government authorities. Building permits act as a leading indicator of future activity in residential real estate. More permits mean more buildings are expected to be constructed in the future. The United States Census Bureau releases building permits data on a monthly basis.
In May, building permits increased by an impressive 25.4% on a year-over-year basis. You can see this surge in permits in the above graph. Compared to April, building permits increased 11.8% to reach a seasonally adjusted rate of 1.28 million, the highest level in the last eight years.
A positive sign for steel
An increase in building permits is positive for the US housing market and the steel industry. Steel companies like U.S. Steel (X), Nucor (NUE), and Steel Dynamics (STLD) benefit from a strong housing demand. The SPDR S&P Metals and Mining ETF (XME) seeks to build a diversified portfolio of these companies. Worthington Industries (WOR) currently forms 3.63% of XME.
Next, we’ll look at metal service centers, a major distributor channel for steel companies. They act as a crucial link between steel companies and small end users of steel products. So steel investors watch metal service center inventory figures closely. In the next part, we’ll look at the May metal service center inventory report.
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United States Steel Corporation
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CODE : X |
ISIN : US9129091081 |
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ProfileMarket IndicatorsVALUE : Projects & res.Press releasesAnnual reportRISK : Asset profileContact Cpy |
United States Steel is a iron and tin producing company based in United states of america. United States Steel is listed in United States of America. Its market capitalisation is US$ 6.7 billions as of today (€ 6.1 billions). Its stock quote reached its lowest recent point on March 28, 2003 at US$ 10.01, and its highest recent level on November 30, 2007 at US$ 98.85. United States Steel has 176 184 431 shares outstanding. |