Falls Church, VA, May 17, 2013 - The full US Senate passed S601, the Water Resources Development Act by a vote of 83-14 on a strongly bipartisan vote. Read more ...

AGC of America, May 17, 2013 - Construction employment declined in 32 states and the District of Columbia in April even as 29 states added jobs between April 2012 and April 2013, according to an analysis by the Associated General Contractors of America of Labor Department data. Read more ...

Business conditions in New York State deteriorated in May for the first time since January. Read more ...

Shipments on America’s rivers were flat in April according to the May 7 MID-SHIP Report. Imported steel shipments picked up in early 2013 but have since softened. Volumes are expected to be lethargic for the next 60 days. Read more ...

The Institute of Supply Management Purchasing Managers Index, (PMI) registered 50.7 percent in April, a decrease of 0.6 percentage point from March's reading of 51.3 percent, indicating expansion in manufacturing for the fifth consecutive month, but at the lowest rate of the year. With the exception of August last year, the three month moving average of the index has been above the 50 thresh-hold every month since August 2009, (Fig 1). The New Orders Index increased in April by 0.9 percentage point to 52.3 percent, and the Production Index increased by 1.3 percentage points to 53.5 percent. The Employment Index registered 50.2 percent, a decrease of 4 percentage points compared to March's reading of 54.2 percent. The Prices Index registered 50 percent, decreasing 4.5 percentage points from March, indicating that overall raw materials prices remained unchanged from last month. On a three month moving average basis, all the major sub indices were down compared to three months through March and all except supplier deliveries were down year over year, (Table 1).

Comments from the panel indicate a range of strong/steady growth, to flat/declining volumes, depending upon the particular industry." Of the 18 manufacturing industries, 14 are reporting growth in April in the following order: Furniture & Related Products; Printing & Related Support Activities; Electrical Equipment, Appliances & Components; Apparel, Leather & Allied Products; Fabricated Metal Products; Paper Products; Machinery; Nonmetallic Mineral Products; Primary Metals; Miscellaneous Manufacturing; Petroleum & Coal Products; Plastics & Rubber Products; Transportation Equipment; and Computer & Electronic Products. The three industries reporting contraction in April are: Wood Products; Food, Beverage & Tobacco Products; and Chemical Products.

Explanation; The Manufacturing ISM Report On Business® is published monthly by the Institute for Supply Management™, the first supply institute in the world. Founded in 1915, ISM exists to lead and serve the supply management profession and is a highly influential and respected association in the global marketplace. ISM's mission is to enhance the value and performance of procurement and supply chain management practitioners and their organizations worldwide. This report has been issued by the association since 1931, except for a four-year interruption during World War II. The report is based on data compiled from purchasing and supply executives nationwide. Membership of the Manufacturing Business Survey Committee is diversified by NAICS, based on each industry's contribution to gross domestic product (GDP). The PMI is a diffusion index. Diffusion indexes have the properties of leading indicators and are convenient summary measures showing the prevailing direction of change and the scope of change. A PMI™ reading above 50 percent indicates that the manufacturing economy is generally expanding; below 50 percent indicates that it is generally declining. A PMI™ in excess of 42.2 percent, over a period of time, indicates that the overall economy, or gross domestic product (GDP), is generally expanding; below 42.2 percent, it is generally declining. The distance from 50 percent or 42.2 percent is indicative of the strength of the expansion or decline. With some of the indicators within this report, ISM has indicated the departure point between expansion and decline of comparable government series, as determined by regression analysis.

Residential Contractors Add Jobs at Robust Clip for the Month and Year While Nonresidential Employment Rises Relative to 2012 Level but Slips from March; Association Warns of Potential Future Worker Shortages 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 ...

Pascagoula, Miss. and Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown, Texas Are Top Gainers While Monroe, Mich. Had Largest Percentage Decline, Northern Virginia Lost the Most Jobs Read more ...

Construction spending rebounded in February with gains from depressed January levels in residential, private nonresidential and public investment, according to an analysis of new Census Bureau data by the Associated General Contractors of America. Read more ...

New home sales in February dropped 4.6 percent to a seasonally adjusted rate of 411,000 from January’s high of 431,000 according to figures released by the U.S. Census Bureau. 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 ...

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 ...

Construction spending snapped a nine-month string of monthly gains with a sharp decline in January but still rose from year-ago levels, according to an analysis of new Census Bureau data by the Associated General Contractors of America 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: 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 ...

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 ...

The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index stood at 47 in a report released January 16. The index showed builder confidence in the market was at its highest level since April 2006 following eight consecutive months of gain.

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 ...

Construction employers added 30,000 jobs in December while the industry's unemployment rate hit 13.5 percent, according to an analysis of new federal data released today by the Associated General Contractors of America. Association officials noted that the monthly increase was the largest in nearly two years, driven primarily by increases in private sector demand for construction Read more ...

Construction spending dipped from October to November, but resolution of the uncertainty regarding federal taxes for 2013 should unleash more private construction investment, according to an analysis of new federal data released today by the Associated General Contractors of America. Association officials warned, however, that unresolved issues about federal construction spending, including storm relief for northeastern states, will hold down public construction spending Read more ...

Sustained recovery in home prices was reported by the Standard & Poor’s/Case Shiller Home Price Indices released on December 26. Read more ...

The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI) rose to 47 in December, indicating a growing builder confidence in the housing industry. 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 ...

Written by: Bradley Clark, Kataman Metals

Busheling futures prices have retreated this week as the physical market for December is coming in sideways from last month. Obsolete scrap in the physical export market into Turkey is pricing lower as well. 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 ...

The American Institute of Architects (AIA) released their much watched Billings Index just prior to Thanksgiving and the news was good for those involved in multi-family construction, mixed practice and institutional construction projects 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 ...

Steel price hikes + contractor costs = less construction and less contractors? According to The Associated General Contractors of America (AGC), construction contractors, being squeezed by materials costs, may lose profits and face bankruptcy.

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 ...

ArcelorMittal had its debt rating downgraded to junk by Moody’s on Wednesday, bringing the world’s largest steelmaker to almost a complete loss of its investment grade status. 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 ...

The AHRI has posted the following for those experiencing damage from the hurricane:

Homeowners who have experienced flood damage are advised to take important safety precautions with regard to their home’s heating and Read more ...

Essar Steel Algoma released the following report:

Essar Steel Algoma Inc. announced today that Mr. James Hrusovsky, Chief Executive Officer has tendered his notice of resignation Read more ...

The SSAB Americas business had a weaker third quarter than the previous one with rolling capacity utilization rates of 85-90%. Read more ...

Written by: Andre Marshall, Crunchrisk LLC

The last week has been significant in the financial markets. We have given up 4% since Oct. 18th in SP 500, 5.5% in Copper, approx 3% in Gold and 8.5% in Crude. Read more ...

Construction employment rose in 30 states and the District of Columbia during September 2012 according to a figures reported by The Associated General Contractors of America (AGC). Read more ...

Steel Market Update (SMU) conducted our mid-October steel market survey inviting just fewer than 700 companies across North America to participate. Based on the results from our survey our SMU Steel Buyers Sentiment Read more ...

Housing starts and permits both experienced double-digit growth from August to September. Building permits were at an annual pace of 894,000 units, Read more ...

The Housing Market Index for October increased again for the 6th month, indicating continued builder confidence in the market for new single-family homes. Read more ...

Earlier this morning, U.S. Steel (USS) advised their customers of their intention to raise flat rolled steel prices by a minimum of $40 per ton ($2.00/cwt) “effective immediately.” The increase announcement was made to the General Managers of Sales and came from the office of RY Kopf, General Manager North American Flat-Rolled Marketing. The increase impacts “…all open quotes and/or negotiations where an agreement is yet to have been concluded….” Mr. Kopf went on to state all pricing extras as published on the company web site were to be “fully applied.”

SMU will have more details regarding the increase in tonight's Steel Market Update newsletter.

Written by: Sophia Fain & John Packard (Edited by Sandy Williams)

On Monday of this past week, Steel Market Update (SMU) held our 3rd Annual Steel Summit Conference just outside of Chicago in Rosemont, IL.  Two of our speakers returned for the third time to discuss the economy and how it will impact flat rolled steel prices in 2013. John Anton, an economist and Director of Steel Services for IHS Global Insight and Timna Tanners, steel and materials analyst for Bank of America Merrill Lynch Research, returned to dual over who will be closer to correctly forecasting steel prices and market direction in the coming year Read more ...

A. M. Castle & Co. announced Scott Dolan as its new president, CEO and board member effective October 15, 2012. Mr. Dolan will take over interim CEO Scott F. Stephens, who will continue as chief financial officer and treasurer. Read more ...