TOP NEWS
ConExpo-Con/Agg Breaks Records
Total registration was 129,364 and the show set new records for exhibit space, number of exhibitors and education tickets sold.
NSSGA Unveils Strategic Plan
Rocks Build America plan is targeted to rebuilding America’s crumbling transportation infrasturcture.
NIOSH Honors Luck Stone
Technology innovation implemented by Luck Stone cited by National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health.
MSHA WATCH
MSHA announced that federal inspectors issued 210 citations, eight orders and one safeguard during special impact inspections conducted at nine coal mines and three metal and nonmetal mines in February. One quarry was targeted.
USGS STATS
An estimated 504 million metric tons (Mt) of total construction aggregates was produced and shipped for consumption in the United States in the fourth quarter of 2013, an increase of 4 percent compared with that of the same period of 2012. The estimated annual output of construction aggregates produced for consumption in 2013 was 2.04 billion metric tons (Gt), an increase of 3 percent compared with that of 2012.
ECONOMIC INDICATORS
At a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $486.7 billion, new construction starts in February were essentially the same as January’s amount, according to McGraw Hill Construction, a division of McGraw Hill Financial.
Nationwide housing starts were virtually unchanged in February, inching down 0.2 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 907,000 units, according to newly released data from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and U.S. Census Bureau.
Construction employment expanded in 195 metro areas, declined in 90 and was stagnant in 54 between January 2013 and January 2014, according to a new analysis of federal employment data released by the Associated General Contractors of America.
ENERGY
- WTI crude oil futures price – 3/27/2014: $101.28/bbl, up$1.85 from week earlier; up $4.70 from year earlier.
- Natural gas futures price – 3/27/2014: $4.584/mmBtu, up $0.215 from week earlier; up $0.516 from year earlier.
- Weekly coal production – 3/22/2014: 18.866 million tons, down 0.135 million tons from week earlier; up 0.091 million tons from year earlier.
- Natural gas inventories – 3/21/2014: 896 Bcf, down 57 Bcf from week earlier; down 899 Bcf from year earlier.
- Crude oil inventories – 3/21/2014: 382.5 mmbbl, up 6.6 mmbbl from week earlier; down 3.4 mmbbl from year earlier.