U.S. Steel Plunging (X)

Shares of U.S. Steel X are plunging in early morning trading after the company posted a surprise second-quarter loss. The company said its second-quarter loss totaled $25 million, or 17 cents a share. While this is much improved from a year ago when the company lost $392 million, or $2.92 a share, it fell shy of analyst expectations looking for a profit of 62 cents a share. Contributing to its quarterly loss was a one-time expense of $96 million related to foreign currency exchanges. Subtracting the loss, the company would have made 45 cents per share. Sales for the second-quarter rose to $4.68 billion, ahead of the $4.59 billion consensus. Sales more than doubled from $2.13 billion during the year-ago period. CEO John Surma said he expects the company to "report an overall operating profit in the third quarter as the U.S. and European economies continue to work their way through a gradual and uneven recovery process." Shares of U.S. Steel are lower by $3.48, or 7.12% to $45.41.