The manufacturing sector grew by 31,000 jobs in November, according to the latest employment data from the Labor Department. With 171,000 total factory jobs created so far this year, the economy is now on pace to add the most manufacturing jobs in a year since 2014, when 208,000 jobs were created.  

In other news, the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) reported that U.S. steel mills shipped 7,559,625 net tons in September 2017, an 11.7% increase from the 6,769,312 net tons shipped in September 2016. Year-to-date steel shipments in 2017 are 68,427,747 net tons, a 4% increase versus 2016 shipments through nine months.