Hottest Steelmaker Stock: U.S. Steel
NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Whither the steel business? Considered a leading indicator of the health of the world economy, the steelmaking industry has seen its fair share of news recently.
This week, there was the speculation about a U.S.-China trade war spilling into the sector (with
Nucor's
(NUE) - Get Report
outspoken chief endorsing a tariff on Chinese steel imports); word that prices for domestic hot-rolled coil steel are increasing, even as word that prices for the Chinese stuff are trending lower; and further statements from Nucor's boss that real demand for steel hasn't improved much, if at all, echoing sentiment from European suppliers.
Our question asked you to select the best positioned of five big steel players --
U.S. Steel
(X) - Get Report
,
ArcelorMittal
(MT) - Get Report
, Nucor,
AK Steel
(AKS) - Get Report
and
Steel Dynamics
(STLD) - Get Report
-- for share price appreciation over the near term.
The winner? The iconic U.S. Steel, which garnered 30.2% of your clicks. As if in response, the Pittsburgh company's stock advanced a little more than 7% for the week, though it did retreat slightly in Friday's session, closing at $49.15. Volumes were heavy throughout all five days.
In close second place was Nucor, with 28.3% of the vote. The mini-mill operator's stock also posted a strong week, adding 7.4%.
Rounding out the results were Steel Dynamics (18.2%), ArcelorMittal (12.8%) and, in last place, AK Steel (10.6%).
-- Written by Scott Eden in New York
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Scott Eden has covered business -- both large and small -- for more than a decade. Prior to joining TheStreet.com, he worked as a features reporter for Dealmaker and Trader Monthly magazines. Before that, he wrote for the Chicago Reader, that city's weekly paper. Early in his career, he was a staff reporter at the Dow Jones News Service. His reporting has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, Men's Journal, the St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times, and the Believer magazine, among other publications. He's also the author of Touchdown Jesus (Simon & Schuster, 2005), a nonfiction book about Notre Dame football fans and the business and politics of big-time college sports. He has degrees from Notre Dame and Washington University in St. Louis.
