The Institute for Supply Management found business strength rising in May, but at soft levels.

One month does not a trend make, but February’s Producer Price Index from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows incremental increases in the value of metal-cutting machine tools, metalforming machine tools, fabricated structural metal products, and structural, architectural and pre-engineered metal products.

Manufacturing, construction still rising. Economic indicators continued to be strong at mid-year

Fourteen of 18 manufacturing sectors tracked reported growth in January, including metal producers and metal fabricators