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Our Advance/Decliner’s pickup from 4% to 23% last week was short-lived, as the index dropped back down to 18% as our China Index declined from 25% to 10% due to weak Chinese manufacturing data as well as a dip in iron ore prices.  A surprise interest rate cut late last week did not spur an uptick in steel pricing and industry leader Baosteel actually cut sheet prices from 1.8-7.0% on Monday, which will likely further dampen market sentiment this week.

Our Ex-China Index also declined, falling from 23% to 20% as Nucor’s $30/ton price cut for all long products more than offset an announced sheet price hike of €10-20/tonne by ArcelorMittal in Europe.  It was interesting to note that our European sub-index broke the critical 50 level for the first time since early April.

NOTE: Any reading below 50 means more price cuts were reported than increases.

Our full report provides further thoughts about global steel pricing trends and our outlook as well as implications for steel equities.

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