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Market Update | April 23, 2025

New home sales increased for the second consecutive month in March and was at its highest monthly rate since September. March new home sales came in at a 724,000 unit rate, up 7.4% from February and up 6.0% from the 683,000 unit rate in March 2024. Sales have now increased, on a year-over-year basis, in back-to-back months, and in four of the last five months. The inventory of unsold new homes held steady, ending the month flat from the end of February at 493,000 units. The month-end inventory, when combined with March's sales rate, equates to 7.1 months of supply.

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Core Report | April 17, 2025

Shipments of HVAC equipment continued to climb on a month-over-month basis but were down from last year. February HVAC shipments totaled 1.700 million units, up 1.9% from January but were down 1.5% compared to the 1.727 million unit total in February 2024.

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Core Report | April 11, 2025

Shipments of tractors and combines continued to rebound in March, however that is mainly due to seasonality. March tractor and combine shipments (U.S. and Canada) totaled 18,066 units, up 68.1% from February, but was still down 11.0% from March last year.

Market Update | April 9, 2025

While dropping on a month-over-month basis, total carbon steel consumption was up compared to last February. February total steel consumption came in at a 277.3k tons/day rate, up 1.2% compared to last February. Carbon sheet consumption saw similar trends, sliding 6.8% from January but climbing 3.45 from last February to a 148.5k tons/day rate. This was the highest February daily rate since 2020.

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Core Report | March 28, 2025

After a slow start to the year, new home sales rebounded in February. February new home sales came in at a 676,000 unit rate, up 1.8% from January and up 5.1% from February 2024.

Market Update | March 26, 2025

Now up for the second consecutive month, durable good new orders increased 0.9% in February to a $289.3 billion rate and follows a 3.3% increase in January. Excluding transportation, new orders were up 0.7% compared to January. New orders for both primary metals and fabricated metal products increased in February, climbing 1.2% and 0.9%, respectively. ​Nondefense capital goods (ex. aircraft) new orders slipped however, sliding 0.3% after seeing a 0.9% increase in January.

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Core Report | March 21, 2025

New residential construction rebounded in February after starting off the year on a slow note. February new housing starts came in at a 1.501 million unit rate, up 11.2% from January, but still down 2.9% compared to the 1.546 million unit rate in February 2024.

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Core Report | March 14, 2025

Shipments of HVAC equipment started the year on a stronger note after sliding the previous two months. HVAC equipment shipments totaled 1.669 million units, up 8.6% from December, but were down 0.6% from the 1.678 million unit total in January 2024.