Union Drops Indexing of Pensions for Retirees & Close Pension to New-Hires

It has been almost one full year since the union refused to accept U.S. Steel contract proposal Read more ...

The Chicago Purchasing Managers (PMI) reported the Chicago Business Barometer rebounded in September, expanding once again for the Read more ...

The Chicago Purchasing Managers (PMI) reported the Chicago Business Barometer rebounded in September, expanding once again for the Read more ...

New orders for durable goods in August shrunk a slight 0.1% to $201.8 billion. Primary metals decreased for the fifth month Read more ...

Construction employment increased in 146 out of 337 metropolitan areas between August 2010 and August 2011, declined in 145 and stayed level in 46, Read more ...

India's largest steelmaker JSW Steel has been forced to cut production by a third due to iron ore shortages in the area of Karnataka. Read more ...

Local 1005 USW is holding its Second Information Meeting on September 29th to update members and retirees on the status of its contract talks with U.S. Steel. The union is meeting after Read more ...

The following press release from RG Steel, LLC was sent to Steel Market Update, announcing new management positions: Read more ...

We are getting a steady stream of calls into our office (all appreciated so don’t stop calling…) regarding our 2nd Annual Steel Market Update Construction & Steel Conference. I will attempt to answer some of those questions here and if you need more information you can contact us at 800-432-3475 or by email at info@steelmarketupdate.com Read more ...

Dow Jones released the following article on steel prices for the future:

ArcelorMittal (MT), the world's largest steelmaker, says orders aren't yet showing real demand deterioration and that steel prices are Read more ...

Yesterday, Steel Market Update wrote a blog regarding China’s currency manipulation which has been affecting the trade deficit with the United States. The Read more ...

The Port of New Orleans is booming in business, up 15% in cargo gains for the past six months of 2011 compared to last year. Read more ...

“The U.S.-China trade deficit has eliminated or displaced nearly 2.8 million U.S. jobs since 2001,” according to the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) report. EPI’s report shows staggering job losses for all 50 states, the Read more ...

“As of August, the number of steel-futures contracts traded on the CME Group Inc. exchange was up 25% from a year ago to average 2,000 trades a month, while the London Metal Exchange, which offers a more widely used benchmark, sees Read more ...

We are quickly approaching our 2nd Annual SMU Construction & Steel Summit conference which this year will be held at the World Congress Center in Atlanta, Georgia. The date of the conference is Monday, October 10th and the conference will begin at 11 AM and will conclude with a networking/cocktail party between which should end around 6 Read more ...

I received an email from one of the executives of USW Local 1005 which is the union representing the locked out U.S. Steel Hamilton workers. The union is well into its 10th month walking the picket line having been locked out on November 7, 2010. The union informed us they did receive a “new” offer from U.S. Steel. The union Negotiating Committee briefed the Local Executive and presented a verbal report to its monthly membership meeting on September 14th. A motion was made and passed unanimously to hold an information meeting on Wednesday, September 21st “so that the Negotiating Committee can present a report on the offer and the workers can receive the information they require to consider all their options Read more ...

New home permits improved even as housing starts and completions declined for August 2011, according to the U.S. Read more ...

The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI) dropped by a single point to 14 in a Read more ...

Metalforming companies expect steady business conditions during the next three months, according to the September 2011 Precision Metalforming Association (PMA) Business Conditions Report. Read more ...

Steel Market Update has opened registration for our New York City Hedging Price Risk workshop. The workshop, which is being taught by one of the most active brokers (Andre Marshall, CEO of Crunch Risk, LLC) working with various financial instruments on behalf of the steel community. The NYC workshop will be held on Wednesday, November 2, 2011 at the NYMEX building in Manhattan Read more ...

Construction employment was mixed as 25 states and D.C. lost jobs between July and August while 26 states and Read more ...

The Empire State Manufacturing Survey reports New York manufacturers’ conditions Read more ...

The Philadelphia Fed Survey reports regional manufacturing activity in September contracted again for the second month. Read more ...

Nucor Corporation announced its guidance for the third quarter ending October 1, 2011 in the range of Read more ...

Reed Construction Data has listed the 10 largest construction project starts in Canada in Read more ...

Severstal North America just released the following press release:

DEARBORN, Mich. September 14, 2011 – Severstal is pleased to provide an update in response to the recent press Read more ...

Evraz North America has announced Kimberly Fields as new Executive Vice President for its Flat Products Group. “Ms. Fields will oversee Read more ...

JMC Steel Group, a manufacturing company currently based in Ohio is asking for approximately $3.7 million in local and state incentives to move its national headquarters to Read more ...

Our next workshop is Hedging Price Risk which will be held on September 29, 2011 at the Chicago Board of Trade building in downtown Chicago. Read more ...

Japan’s Nippon Steel and Brazil’s Gerdau SA are trying to thwart a takeover bid from Cia. Siderurgica Nacional SA, or CSN, who has offered $2.9 Read more ...

On Monday, Steel Dynamics announced a quarterly cash dividend of $.10 per common share payable on or about October 14, 2011. Read more ...

ArcelorMittal exported 18,000 metric tons of hot rolled steel from its Burns Harbor facility, en route to the Republic of Macedonia. Read more ...

Reed Construction Data forecasts construction spending as low for the next few years with a 30% probability for a Read more ...

It has taken a full ten months but there does seem to be some changes occurring with the US Steel Canada lockout of USW Local 1005 of the Hamilton Works plant. The lockout began on November 7, 2010 and is now in its 11th month. Earlier this month, U.S. Steel informed the union they had a new proposal to offer and the two sides are scheduled to sit down tomorrow (September 13th) at the negotiation table for the first time since the lockout began Read more ...

U.S. exports of all steel products declined for the second straight month and totaled 963,066 metric tons (1,061,597 short tons). Read more ...

The U.S. Census Bureau released trade data this past week which indicated scrap exports out of the U.S. were slightly lower for the month of July at Read more ...

Data DIGest reported that economic activity continued to expand at a modest pace, according to 12 Federal Reserve Districts. Read more ...

Union port workers at four Washington ports — Seattle, Tacoma, Anacortes and Longview have shut down operations by walking out of work or just not coming in at all. The International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) members became violent Read more ...

NCI Building Systems today reported financial results for the third quarter ended July 31, 2011 as “the best quarterly performance that we have reported in the last Read more ...

The American Steel Coalition (ASC) has announced its reactivation as an advocacy group for the steel industry. Read more ...

China has been the target of many countries, as the Asian powerhouse has been blamed for hurting domestic industries. According to the China Iron & Steel Association, “China has received some 400 trade Read more ...

If you, or your company, are thinking about attending METALCON or have already made plans to visit Atlanta in October for METALCON then you will want to include our Construction & Steel Summit conference in your plans.

On October 10th – the day before METALCON officially opens – Steel Market Update will conduct our second annual “Steel Summit” conference at the World Congress Center Read more ...

Late last week, Steel Market Update entertained comments from one of the integrated steel mills who questioned our “Neutral” rating through the end of August even though flat rolled steel prices had increased by approximately $20 per ton from the beginning to the end of the month Read more ...

Both Nonfarm payroll employment and the unemployment rate remained unchanged for August, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Read more ...

The U.S. and Canadian steel mills have been announcing price increases on Wednesday and Thursday of this week - following the lead of NLMK USA (Beta Steel, Duferco Farrell and Sharon Coatings which are now all part of NLMK USA). Last week, NLMK USA because the first mill to announce a second round of flat rolled price increases. The NLMK increase was $40 per ton Read more ...

Steel Market Update received news late this afternoon from USW Local 1005 which represents the workers at U.S. Steel Hamilton Works in Canada. The union was contacted by the conciliator (mediator in the USA) “…informing us that U.S. Steel had a comprehensive settlement to offer USW Local 1005. A meeting has been organized for September 13, 2011 to put the offer on the table for discussion Read more ...

Steel Market Update sources provided copies of letters which were submitted to customers of USS/Posco (UPI) and California Steel Industries (CSI) raising flat rolled steel prices by $40 per ton. The new price increase which was to be "effective immediately" and was in addition to the $60 per ton announced earlier this month by both mills Read more ...

Steel Market Update sources began advising us this afternoon of new pricing levels being offered out of U.S. Steel on hot rolled, cold rolled, galvanized and Galvalume steel. Like ArcelorMittal, U.S. Steel has come out with specific base price requirements by product Read more ...

Steel Market Update is hearing this afternoon that ArcelorMittal (AMUSA) has begun the process of informing their customers (not in writing) of new flat rolled steel prices. Unlike the other mills we are hearing specific base prices attached to AMUSA Read more ...