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www.rockproducts.com ROCK products • August 2016 • 1 FIRST LOOK Eagle Materials Earns Record Quarterly Revenue Eagle Material's Concrete and Aggregates division reported revenues for the first quarter of $34.5 million, an increase of 22 percent. TOP NEWS Komatsu to Merge with Joy Global Joy Global announced on July 21 that its board of directors unanimously approved a definitive merger agreement whereby Komatsu America Corp. will acquire Joy Global. More Than 18,000 Attend Hillhead More than 18,000 visitors turned out for Hillhead 2016, which took place over three days at Tarmac's Hillhead Quarry, near Buxton, Derbyshire, England. MSHA WATCH The Mine Safety and Health Administration announced that federal inspectors issued 114 citations and four orders during special impact inspections conducted at 11 coal mines and six metal and nonmetal mines in June. MSHA conducted special impact inspections at mines in California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Utah, Virginia and West Virginia. MSHA targeted four nonmetallic minerals quarries in June: Cemex's Black Mountain Quarry in California; LafargeHolcim's Portland Plant & Quarry in Colorado; Titan Cement's Pennsuco Quarry in Florida; and Georgia Stone's Chelmsford Quarry in Massachusetts. Thirty-one citations and four orders were issued. The estimated U.S. output of construction sand and gravel produced and shipped for consumption in the first quarter of 2016 was 173 Mt, an increase of 10 percent compared with that of the same period of 2015. The estimated annual output produced for consumption in 2015 was 937 Mt, an increase of 4 percent compared with the annual output for 2014. USGS STATS The U.S. Census Bureau of the Department of Commerce announced that construction spending during May 2016 was estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1,143.3 bil- lion, 0.8 percent (±1.3 percent) below the revised April estimate of $1,152.4 billion. The May figure is 2.8 percent (±1.6 percent) above the May 2015 estimate of $1,112.2 billion. New construction starts in June decreased 7 percent from the previous month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $595.1 billion, according to Dodge Data & Analytics. The nonbuild- ing construction sector (public works and electric utilities) fell sharply after being lifted in May by the start of a $3.8 billion oil pipeline in the upper Midwest and seven large power plant projects totaling $4.3 billion. Nationwide housing starts rose 4.8 percent in June to a sea- sonally adjusted annual rate of 1.19 million units, according to newly released data from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Commerce Department. Overall permit issuance increased 1.5 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.15 million. ECONOMIC INDICATORS ENERGY WTI CRUDE OIL FUTURES PRICE 7/26/2016: $42.92/barrels, down $1.73 from week earlier; down $4.47 from year earlier. NATURAL GAS FUTURES PRICE 7/26/2016: $2.712/MMBtu, down $0.016 from week earlier; down $0.077 from year earlier. RETAIL GASOLINE PRICE 7/25/2016: $2.182/gal., down $0.048 from week earlier; down $0.563 from year earlier. CRUDE OIL INVENTORIES 7/22/2016: 521.1 million barrels, up 1.7 million barrels from week earlier; up 61.5 million barrels from year earlier. WEEKLY COAL PRODUCTION 7/16/2016: 15.141 million tons, up 2.218 million tons from week earlier; down 2.433 million tons from year earlier. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration