Rebar licenses through September 14^th totaled just 673 tons, plummeting from the year to date, (YTD) average through August of 149,957 tons.

Total Merchant licenses, (representing 10 HTS codes), year to date, (YTD) through September 14^th totaled 708,424 tons, down 23.1% from last year’s 921,552 tons.

Wire Rod licenses for the month of September through the 14^th, totaled 56,952 tons, plummeting 67.2% from the year to date through August average of 173,561 tons.

For the week ending September 2^nd, initial claims for unemployment spiked by 62,000 because of hurricane Harvey to a level of 298,000. The four week moving average also moved higher, up 13,500 from the previous week’s average of 250,250.

The Federal Reserve’s September Beige Book indicates that the economy continues to improve.

Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 156,000 in August, and the unemployment rate was little changed at 4.4% according to the September 1^st, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, (BLS) report.