Oil and Gas Rotary Rig Counts: The total number of operating rigs in the U.S. for the week ending September 30th was 604 oil and 159 gas (totaling 763). In percentage terms, on a month on month (m/m) basis, oil rigs were up 1.3% and gas was down 1.9%. On a year on year (y/y) comparison, rigs were up 41.1% for oil and up 60.6% for gas. The combined figure for y/y was +44.9%, or +237 rigs.

Oil and Gas Rotary Rig Counts: The total number of operating rigs in Canada for the week ending September 30th was 144 oil and 69 gas (totaling 213). In percentage terms, on a month on month (m/m) basis, oil rigs were up 0.7% and gas up 6.2%. On a year on year (y/y) comparison, rigs were up 48.5% for oil and up 1.5% for gas. The combined figure for y/y was +29.1% or 48 rigs.

Currency Report: The trade-weighted U.S. Broad Dollar Index posted a reading of 125.748 in September, up 2.71% m/m, reversing trend after a slight decrease last month. This index value is up 10.81% on a year on year (y/y) basis.

Employment by Industry (U.S.): In September 2022, the total number of seasonally adjusted (SA), non-farm people employed in the U.S. was 153 million (M) – an increase of 263,000 (+0.2%) month on month (m/m). When compared to September 2021, total employment is up by 3.9% year on year (y/y). Among the employment sectors that we track at Gerdau, we saw the greatest monthly gain in the motor vehicles and parts manufacturing sector with a growth of 0.8% m/m.

Advance Durable Goods Orders: The U.S. Census Bureau reported that new orders for durable goods in July 2022 remained flat month on month (m/m) to $272.6M, following the 0.1% decrease in July. The always-volatile nondefense aircraft orders, up 45.2% y/y, influenced this trend significantly.

Producer Price Index: The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Producer Price Index (PPI) for final demand fell 0.1% in August 2022 (seasonally adjusted), following the 0.4% decrease in July. The index for final demand goods fell 1.2% in August, while the index for final demand services grew 0.4% after a 0.2% increase in July. Forty percent of the increase in prices for final demand services can be attributed to margins for fuels and lubricants retailing, which rose 14.2 percent.