What happened Shares of U.S. Steel (NYSE: X) look red-hot this afternoon, up 7.9% in 1:45 p.m. EDT trading on the back of positive news about the health of the U.S. steel industry. So what What news, specifically? According to the latest weekly update out of the American Iron and Steel Institute, raw steel production in the U.S. climbed 0.3% sequentially over the past week, rising to 1.484 million net tons of steel produced, while steel-capacity utilization climbed 50 basis points to 66.6%. Mind you, this data relates to all steel produced and all steel-production capacity utilized by all U.S. steelmakers in general -- not just U.S. Steel in particular. Still, if what's good for the steel industry is also good for U.S. Steel, then this latest data sounds pretty good. Image source: Getty Images. Now what There is, however, an important caveat to bear in mind. Specifically, the fact that when compared to where we were a year ago, the U.S. steel industry is still in quite a bit of a slump. Year over year, steel production remains down 17.7%, and capacity utilization is 1,110 basis points lower (i.e., utilization was 77.7% a year ago). With U.S. Steel reporting losses of $1.7 billion over the past year, it's going to take a whole lot more than fraction-of-a-percent increases to emerge fully from its slump. For the giant steelmaker, this recession remains a long way from over. 10 stocks we like better than United States SteelWhen investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.* David and Tom just revealed what they believe are the ten best stocks for investors to buy right now... and United States Steel wasn't one of them! That's right -- they think these 10 stocks are even better buys. See the 10 stocks *Stock Advisor returns as of September 24, 2020 Rich Smith has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.Source