Shares of U.S. Steel (NYSE: X) look red-hot this afternoon, up 7.9% in 1:45 p.m. EDT trading on the back of positive news about the health of the U.S. steel industry.
What news, specifically? According to the latest weekly update out of the American Iron and Steel Institute, raw steel production in the U.S. climbed 0.3% sequentially over the past week, rising to 1.484 million net tons of steel produced, while steel-capacity utilization climbed 50 basis points to 66.6%.
Mind you, this data relates to all steel produced and all steel-production capacity utilized by all U.S. steelmakers in general -- not just U.S. Steel in particular. Still, if what's good for the steel industry is also good for U.S. Steel, then this latest data sounds pretty good.
For further details see:
Why United States Steel Stock Just Popped 8%