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RTI International Metals (RTI) reported a breakeven 4Q, which adjusted to earnings of roughly $0.05/share excluding acquisition costs and a true-up of the company’s tax rate, below the Street’s $0.10/share, but an improvement from a loss of $0.05 in the year-ago period.  Management attributed the improvement from a year ago partially to increased titanium mill shipments as a result of a pick-up in commercial-aircraft build rates, though the company expressed disappointment in the ramping up of the 787 program and cited delays in the Joint Strike Fighter program. The Fabrication Group was hampered by delivery delays from third parties, management said.

Guidance for 2012 – assuming the Remmele Engineering acquisition closes by the end of 1Q – is for operating income of $45-50m (up sharply from $27.8m in 2011), sales of more than $700m (compared with $529.7m for 2011), and total mill product shipments of 15.5m-16m pounds (compared with 14.7m pounds in 2011).

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According to trade press, domestic long product producers (including industry leader Nucor) are reversing January pricing moves effective immediately, as scrap pricing gains of $30/ton reversed themselves.

Prices for beams and merchants are being reduced by the full $30/ton decline in the scrap surcharge (or 3-4%), while a $15/ton base price increase for rebar, will partially offset the surcharge drop, resulting in a smaller, net transaction price drop of $15/ton (or 2%).

Our full report provides further thoughts about domestic and global steel prices as well as the implication for steel equities.

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The number of U.S. privately-owned housing units authorized by building permits in January 2012 totaled a seasonally adjusted 676,000, an impressive 19% increase from 568,000 in January 2011 and 0.7% more than the 671,000 reported in December 2011.

Single-family authorizations in January 2012 totaled 445,000, up 6% from 419,000 in January 2011 and up 0.9% from the the revised December 2011 figure of 441,000. Authorizations of units in buildings with five units or more equaled 208,000 in January 2012,  a significant 61% increase from 129,000 in January 2011 and a roughly 1% increase from 206,000 in December 2011.

Housing Starts Rise 10% Y-O-Y

Privately-owned housing starts in January 2012 occurred at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 699,000, which was 9.9% higher than 636,000 in January 2011 and 1.5% higher than 689,000 in December 2011. There were 508,000 single-family housing starts in January 2012, 16% higher than 437,000 in January 2011 but 1% less than 513,000 in December 2011  The January rate for units in buildings with five units or more was 175,000, 6% less than 187,000 in January 2011 but 14% more than 153,000 in Dcember 2011.

Housing Completions Fall 12% Y-O-Y

There were 530,000 seasonally adjusted privately-owned housing completions in January 2012, about 4% more than the 509,000 recorded in January 2011 but 12% less than 602,000 in December 2011.This total figure included 389,000 single-family housing completions, about 7% below 417,000 in January 2011 and also 15% below the December 2011 rate of 457,000. The January 2012 rate for units in buildings with five units or more was 136,000, up a strong 58% from 86,000 in January 2011 and flat with the rate in December 2011.

Sources: U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development

The advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial unemployment claims the week of February 11, 2012, totaled 348,000, a decrease of 13,000 from a revised estimate of 361,000 the week of February 4, 2012. This marked the lowest weekly level of initial unemployment claims since March 2008. The seasonally adjusted four-week moving average also showed a mild decline, dropping from 1,750 from a revised estimate of 367,00 to 365,250.

Insured Unemployment Figures Also Decline

Looking at seasonally adjusted unemployment figures, the advance seasonally adjusted unemployment rate the week of February 4 was 2.7%, a fractional decrease from 2.8% the week of January 28, 2012. In addition, the advance seasonally adjusted total number of insured unemployed people dropped about 3%, from 3.526 million to 3.426 million. The four-week moving average decreased fractionally from a revised 3.5 million to 3.492 million.

More File Actual Claims, But Total Drops More

The actual (unadjusted) number of initial unemployment claims the week of February 11, 2012 was a slightly higher 397,810. However, there was also a larger drop of 39,328 from the previous week’s unadjusted total of 422,287. The advance unadjusted unemployment rate the week of January 28, 2012 was 3.2%, unchanged from the prior week’s unrevised rate.

Fewer Federal Employees, More Vets File Initial Claims

A total of 1,696 former federal civilian employees filed initial unemployment claims the week of January 28, a roughly 3% drop from 2,172 the prior week. However, there were 2,843 initial claims from newly discharged veterans, a 16% jump from 2,448 the previous week.

California Sees Highest Initial Claims Growth

The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending January 28 were in California (+4,571), Washington (+2,795), Florida (+2,293), Texas (+1,485), and Oregon (+1,420), while the largest decreases were in Tennessee (-1,855), Connecticut (-1,523), Oklahoma (-1,353), Alabama (-1,297), and North Carolina (-1,221).

Source: US Department of Labor