Oil and Gas Rotary Rig Counts: The total number of operating rigs in Canada for the week ending January 27th was 157 oil and 90 gas (totaling 247). In percentage terms, on a month on month (m/m) basis, oil rigs were up 528% and gas up 52.5%. On a year on year (y/y) comparison, rigs were up 16.3% for oil and up 9.8% for gas. The combined figure for y/y was +13.8% or 30 rigs.

Oil and Gas Rotary Rig Counts: The total number of operating rigs in the U.S. for the week ending January 27th was 609 oil and 160 gas (totaling 769). In percentage terms, on a month on month (m/m) basis, oil rigs were down 1.9% and gas was up 2.6 On a year on year (y/y) comparison, rigs were up 23.0% for oil and up 39.1% for gas. The combined figure for y/y was +26.4%, or +161 rigs.

Currency Report: The trade-weighted U.S. Broad Dollar Index posted a reading of 119.910 in January, down 1.98% m/m, steadily decreasing for the third month. This index value is up 4.20% on a year on year (y/y) basis. Month over month, we saw the Brazilian real, Canadian dollar, Chinese yuan, Japanese yen, Mexican peso and South Korean won strengthen vs. the USD in January.

Employment by Industry (U.S.): In January 2023, the total number of seasonally adjusted (SA), non-farm people employed in the U.S. was 155.1 million (M) – an increase of 517,000 (+0.3%) month on month (m/m). When compared to January 2022, total employment is up by 3.3% year on year (y/y). Among the employment sectors that we track at Gerdau, we saw the greatest monthly gain in the oil and gas extraction sector with a growth of 0.9% m/m.

Advance Durable Goods Orders: The U.S. Census Bureau reported that new orders for durable goods in December 2022 increased 5.6% (m/m) to $286.8M, following the 1.7% decrease in November. The always-volatile nondefense aircraft orders, up 52.8% y/y, influenced this trend significantly.

Producer Price Index: The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Producer Price Index (PPI) for final demand decreased 0.5% in December 2022 (seasonally adjusted), following the 0.2% increase in November. The index for final demand goods moved down 1.6% in December, while the index for final demand services edged up 0.1% after a 0.2% increase in November. Nearly half of the December decrease in the index for final demand goods can be traced to a 13.4-percent decline in prices for gasoline.