US Steel Tries to Rein Costs

Shares of United States Steel Corp. (X) soared on Thursday after the company put on hold a $1 billion upgrade of its coke plant near Pittsburgh for an indefinite period to cut costs.

Separately, the company also decided to shut down its foundry in the Serbian city of Smederevo in course of the month. US Steel said it could not “speculate about when conditions will improve enough to allow work to resume.”

US Steel’s multi-year project at the Clairton plant was expected to create more than 600 construction jobs and ensure thousands of existing jobs. The largest coke producer in the U.S. has been reducing headcount as it grapples with slumping steel prices amid the downturn in housing and auto markets.

Shares of the company were up nearly 9% to $24.63 at noon on the New York Stock Exchange.

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