ArcelorMittal keeps profit firm

Brussels
ArcelorMittal, the world's largest producer of steel, kept its 2015 profit outlook, though it cut its forecast for global steel consumption this year.
ArcelorMittal said the global steel market should be flat in 2015, compared to a previous forecast of growth between 0.5 and 1.5 percent, with sharp downward adjustments to the outlook for Brazil, China and the United States.
Core profit in the second quarter came in at $1.40 billion, just above the $1.38 million expected in a Reuters poll of 12 analysts.
ArcelorMittal, which produces 6 to 7 percent of the world's steel, repeated its 2015 guidance that core profit would come in at between $6 and $7 billion.
ArcelorMittal, the world's largest steelmaker, cut its forecast for global apparently steel consumption in 2015, with lower estimates for the United States, China, Brazil as well as for Russia and surrounding states.