Construction employment levels are reported below by the Associated General Contractors of America:

Construction employment increased in Read more ...

Steel Market Update and the CRU believe it is important for the steel industry to understand what the domestic mills are Read more ...

Steel exports dropped in February according to the American Institute for International Steel (AIIS) report below:

"Falls Church, VA, April 18, 2013 – Steel exports declined 3.8 percent in February 2013 compared to January according to government data Read more ...

Written by: Sandy Williams

A strike or a lock-out is possible this week at U.S. Steel’s Lake Erie Works in Nanticoke, Ontario, Canada. The contract between U.S. Steel and Local 8782 of the United Steel Workers is set to expire at 12:01 a.m. April 16. Read more ...

Final details have been completed and registration is open for our next Steel 101 workshop which will be held in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. We believe this is by far the best way to learn about the steel industry. Read more ...

Written by: Andre Marshall, Crunchrisk LLC

Financial Markets:

Today we took out the S+P high from 2007 at 1572, this after the Dow high was felled a couple weeks back. It is really miraculous Read more ...

The following is the the January report on construction employment by the Associated General Contractors of America.

Construction employment increased in 145 out of 339 metropolitan areas between January 2012 and January 2013, Read more ...

Here is the latest report from the Associated General Contractors of America on construction materials pricing:

Prices for construction materials jumped in February, driven by extreme increases in items used in new housing and nonresidential building renovations, Read more ...

The following is the latest report by the Associated General Contractors of America:

The construction industry added 48,000 jobs in February, the ninth consecutive month of job growth for the sector, as more people are working in construction than at any point in the last three and a half years, Read more ...

Written by: Sandy Williams

Day one of the SMU Steel 101: Introduction to Steelmaking & Market Fundamentals workshop ended by rubbing shoulders with our mill hosts at a cocktail party at our hotel. This was my first opportunity to speak to the General Manager of Read more ...

Written by: Bradley Clark, Director of Steel Trading, Kataman Metals

Well it certainly is beginning to feel like déjà vu all over again. Last week’s price hike announcements come during the same last week of Read more ...

Written by: Sandy Williams

“Whenever you are asked if you can do a job, tell ‘em ‘Certainly I can!’ Then get busy and find out how to do it.”—Theodore Roosevelt.

When I was asked to write for SMU I did exactly what Teddy suggested and every day since I’ve been learning how. With a background in the “soft” industry of Read more ...

AK Steel has just announced a price increase. See below for the full letter from the company press release:

Steel Market Update (SMU) started receiving calls by late Tuesday afternoon advising us to prepare for a new round of price increase announcements. This afternoon, Read more ...

Our next Managing Price Risk workshop – which is for active buyers and sellers of steel and/or ferrous scrap – has been confirmed for New York City on April 26, 2013 at the NYMEX building (CME Group) across from Read more ...

Here is the latest report on construction conditions and pricing by the Associated General Contractors of America:

Prices for construction materials Read more ...

Written by: John Packard

Steel Market Update (SMU) ran a number of articles concerning the tepid support service centers were giving spot flat rolled steel price increases into the manufacturing segment of the industry. SMU surveys the industry twice per month and our most recent steel survey was capturing a very modest push by service centers to take their Read more ...

Written by: Brad Clark, Director of Steel Trading, Kataman Metals

It appears that the market finally capitulated this week with the physical market taking a turn south as recent price hikes seem to have failed.  After a couple of weeks with consumers, distributors, producers of coils eyeing Read more ...

John Packard, Publisher and Owner of Steel Market Update, has one of the top 1% most viewed LinkedIn profiles for 2012. Read more ...

Written by: Andre Marshall, Crunchrisk LLC

Financial Markets:

Big news today was that the Euro cratered on the back of Draghi’s comments about the Euro from, in USD terms, $1.357 to $1.34. Unless, of course, you think that ArcelorMittal losing $3.99 billion in the Quarter was Read more ...

The Associated General Contractors of America report positive results for the construction industry below:

"Revised government data issued today show the construction industry is contributing Read more ...

One week ago, ArcelorMittal circulated their price increase announcement and in their internal memo the company raised the issue of, “The market manipulation and discounting of the CRU has had a dampening effect on industry spot Read more ...

Renco Group had a controlling interest in RG Steel, which made it responsible for two pension plans for about 1,350 people. Read more ...

The Associated General Contractors of America released the following report on construction employment:

Construction employment increased in 139 out of 337 metropolitan areas between December 2011 and December 2012, Read more ...

Written by: Andre Marshall, Crunchrisk

Financial Markets

The last of the obstacles to an improving economy, the debt ceiling and the spending cuts etc seem to be rolling over. The Republicans have cleverly put in a temporary debt ceiling increase covering us until May which Read more ...

Here's the latest construction report put out by the Associated General Contractors of America

Construction employment expanded in two-thirds of all states in December and in half the nation last year as the industry showed signs of emerging from a six-year Read more ...

SMU Steel Buyers Sentiment Index improved to +27 this week, this is 6 points better than the +21 measured during the first week Read more ...

Building products manufacturer Gibraltar Industries, Inc. announced preliminary fourth quarter results and three acquisitions, totaling $41 million, acquired between November 14 and December 28, 2012. Read more ...

Steel Market Update (SMU) has developed an exceptional basic steel training program covering the steel industry (flat and long products). Our two day workshop, which we call - Steel 101: Introduction to Steelmaking & Market Fundamentals – is meant to provide a comprehensive review of the way steel is made by Read more ...

The following SNIPS article explains that there is a potential settlement with the HVAC lawsuit:

The U.S. Department of Energy has agreed to withdraw – for now -- its proposal for regional energy-efficiency standards for indoor furnaces. Read more ...

Here is the latest news from the CME Group- adding 2 more OTC swaps contracts:

The Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) Group has added two more cleared over-the-counter (OTC) swaps contracts to its metals portfolio – one for Turkish scrap imports and one for North European Hot Rolled Coil (HRC). Read more ...

Written by Brad Clark, Director of Steel Trading, Kataman Metals

Settlement prices retreated this week on the CME U.S. Midwest Hot Rolled futures contract as the expected New Year’s jubilation never materialized.

Volumes the past week surged as traders placed their bets for a breakout of the recent sideways trading Read more ...

Construction employment declined in 151 out of 337 metropolitan areas between November 2011 and November 2012, increased in 126 and was stagnant in 60, according to a new analysis of federal employment Read more ...

After months of uncertainty related to governmental policies and the fiscal cliff negotiations (or lack thereof) combined with Read more ...

Written by: Andre Marshall, Crunchrisk LLC

Financial Markets

Who knew it was so easy, all the Republicans had to do was to agree to over $600 bln in tax increases, kick the can down the road on spending cuts by 2-3 months and voila!; No Fiscal Cliff! And with that the markets were off. Read more ...

Severstal North America made the following announcement in their press release:

DEARBORN, Mich. December 20, 2012 – Severstal North America, one of the largest steel producers in the U.S., has appointed Mr. Sachin Shivaram, Read more ...

Sentiment Improves as Demand Improves

Steel Market Update (SMU) Steel Buyers Sentiment Index jumped to its highest reading since the middle of August 2012. Read more ...

Written by: Andre Marshall, Crunchrisk LLC

Financial Markets:

In financial markets, we continue to creep up on this rally that started from that low in mid November. The S+P is 1422 and up about 5% from that low. Read more ...

On Wednesday of this week, John Packard, Publisher of Steel Market Update (SMU) spoke to the Chicago Regional Meeting of the Association of Steel Distributors (ASD).  There were more than 100 people in attendance as we discussed the situation at ThyssenKrupp Steel USA and their sister facility in Brazil (CSA).  We also discussed the pipe & tube market and if we expect dumping suits to be filed during 2013 on foreign imports of OCTG and line pipe. Read more ...

This was from ThyssenKrupp's press release:

Today the Personnel Committee of the Supervisory Board in close cooperation with Dr. Heinrich Hiesinger, Chief Executive Officer of ThyssenKrupp AG, have agreed to propose to the Supervisory Board in its meeting on December 10, 2012 Read more ...

Written by: Andre Marshall, CEO of Crunch Risk, LLC.

Financial Markets:
 
Since I last wrote November 9th, the S+P is up about 3 percent (all of that in the last two days). In that same timeframe copper is up about 4 percent, while Crude is up about 2 percent and Gold is unchanged. The markets have rallied from Read more ...

Here are the pricing options for our special 14 months for the price of 12 along with the cost savings for each level. The newsletter is currently delivered three times per week excluding U.S. holidays. Read more ...

Buyers and sellers of steel expressed growing optimism according to the just released results of our index which is produced twice per month. Our benchmark Steel Market Update (SMU) Steel Buyers Sentiment Index rose by seven points to +23 according to the results of our most recent steel market survey. Read more ...

Construction employment declined in 28 states from October 2011 to October 2012 even as 31 states and D.C. added jobs during the past month, Read more ...

Optima Specialty Steel announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement with ALJ Regional Holdings, Inc. to acquire 100% of KES Acquisition Company, which conducts business as Kentucky Electric Steel (KES). The company's Read more ...

Written by: Andre Marshall, CEO of Crunch Risk, LLC.

Financial:

Since I last wrote, two weeks back, we have the same President, essentially the same House and essentially the same Senate, and more rhetoric. Read more ...

Construction employment remains fairly stable with little change except for the fact that former construction workers continue to leave the industry. Below is AGC's analysis of the construction data.

Construction employers added Read more ...

SMU Steel Buyers Sentiment Index rose to +16 this past week posting an 8 point improvement over our mid-October measurement of +9. Steel buyers and sellers appear to be more optimistic about existing business conditions Read more ...

Written by Brad Clark, Director of Steel Trading,  Kataman Metals

Settlement prices this week on the CME U.S. Midwest Hot Rolled futures contract have consolidated recent gains.  But the market maintains a strong upside bias as we Read more ...