U.S. GDP performed a little better than initially reported. The annualized Gross Domestic Product (GDP), growth rate in the third estimate of the second quarter, (Q2) of 2017 was revised upwards to 3.1%.

Consumer confidence slipped a bit in September as the Conference Board Consumer Confidence Composite fell 0.6 points to 119.8 points. Despite the slight decline, confidence remains at an elevated level.

The pace of U.S. economic growth slowed in August as evidenced by the declining score of the CFNAI. The CFNAI fell -0.31 in August after ticking up a revised 0.03 in June.

For the 12 months ending August 2017, US mill shipments of long products* increased by 2.9%. US domestic consumption of long products increased by 0.9% over the same timeframe. Import share of long products averaged 21.1% over the past 12 months, down 1.5% year on year, (y/y).

Hurricane Harvey’s impact was apparent in this week’s initial claims data. For the week ending September 9^th, initial claims for unemployment fell by 14,000 to an unrevised level of 284,000.  The four week moving average, (4WMA) moved, up 13,000 from the previous to 263,250.

Beam licenses year to date (YTD), through September 14^th totaled 423,658 tons, down 5.0% from last year’s YTD 446,138 tons. September to date license requests were for 18,199 tons, down substantially from the YTD average through August of 50,682 tons.