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

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 ...

AkzoNobel announced on Friday the sale of its North American Decorative Paints business to PPG Industries at a value of $1.05 billion. 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 ...

One of our articles in last Sunday evening’s newsletter struck a nerve. Two weeks ago, Steel Market Update spoke to the Association of Steel Distributors (ASD) and during the Q&A with those in attendance the topic of indexed pricing and the full range vs. indexed average was debated. Read more ...

DEARBORN, Mich. December 10, 2012 – Severstal North America appoints Mr. Saikat Dey Chief Strategy and Procurement Officer, effective December 15, 2012. 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 ...

ArcelorMittal NA began advising their flat rolled steel customers this morning of their intention to raise prices by $20 per ton ($1.00/cwt). Read more ...

In an effort to prevent prices from slipping from current levels which Steel Market Update pegged at ranging from $610-$650 per ton on hot rolled steel, the Nucor Sheet Mill Group raised flat rolled steel prices by $20 per ton. Read more ...

Florange deal in question by union officials

ArcelorMittal has withdrawn its bid for a EU-funded project in environmentally friendly steel that was central to its deal with France concerning the Florange plant. 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 ...

Esmark and United Steel Workers Local 1223 have reached an agreement on a four year collective bargaining agreement that will reopen the Yorkville cold-rolled finishing mill. The agreement will be sent to union members for ratification during the week of December 3. 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 ...

Steel Market Update (SMU) has decided to adjust our Price Momentum Indicator from Higher to Neutral. At this time, we feel prices could trend sideways over the next few weeks – or move within a very tight range plus or minus until something happens which will assist in pushing the market in one direction or another – most likely by stimulating new orders and extending lead times or, by inhibiting orders and constricting lead times. 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 ...

The U.S. Commerce Department and the Russian government have reached a deal to revise a 1999 suspension agreement that will raise the minimum price for Russian hot-rolled steel sold in the United States. Read more ...

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

The AMM index printed November at 389.74 a nearly $55 increase from October. This price rise seemed to justify the recent upsurge in prices on the futures market as we enter the peak winter season for prices.
Read more ...

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

Settlement prices this week on the CME U.S. Midwest Hot Rolled futures contract have extended gains with q1 periods benefiting the most from further price hike announcements.
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.

NYMEX Billet:

Trading has died as the prices have risen. This week we have gone up about $10 on Nov and Dec to $535/MT area. On the Q1 there has been no change reflecting $535/MT. Offers for Jan for instance are just above at $540. Last bid for Dec. was $522. No trades in the recent period.

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 ...

Nucor announced on Tuesday a long-term agreement with Ecana Oil & Gas (USA) Inc. for an onshore natural gas drilling program in the United States. Read more ...

West Chester, OH, November 05, 2012—AK Steel (NYSE: AKS) said today that it will increase current spot market base prices for all carbon flat-rolled steel products by $50 per ton, effective immediately with new orders.

Steel Market Update will have full coverage in our Tuesday evening issue of our newsletter.

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 ...

This morning, November 2, 2012, the Severstal Dearborn steel plant experienced an explosion in its cold air pipe connected to the blast furnace stoves. No persons were injured; everyone on site was evacuated safely from the area of impact. The explosion may or may not be related to last night’s power outage at the Rouge industrial complex 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 ...

Brazilian steelmaker CSN - Companhia Siderurgica Nacional announced its third quarter 2012 results with net revenue up 3% q-o-q to R$4.3 billion (USD 2.1 billion). Total 3Q12 sales reached a record-level 1.6 million tons, 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 ...

The speakers at this year’s annual fall conference for the Association of Steel Distributors (ASD) probed a number of subject areas key to the steel industry and specifically to distributors. The first day of the conference was highlighted by an excellent panel of large distribution companies with Keith Busse as both moderator and participant 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 ...

Severstal NA was awarded by the AIST; read below for the full press release from Severstal:

DEARBORN, Mich. October 24, 2012 – Severstal North America, one of the largest U.S.-based flat-rolled steel producers, is pleased to announce that it was selected as the Gold Medal winner of the 2012 Association for Iron and Steel Technology (AIST) Reliability Achievement Award. The award, open to all Read more ...

Over the weekend, Steel Market Update (SMU) adjusted our Price Momentum Indicator from Neutral to Higher, as we now believe the domestic steel mills will be able to collect higher prices in the coming 30 to 60 days and perhaps longer 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 ...

It hasn’t taken the U.S. based steel mills very long to jump on the U.S. Steel bandwagon and follow suit with price announcements of their own. So far, Steel Market Update (SMU) is aware of price announcements out of the following mills: US Steel, AK Steel, Nucor, California Steel, NLMK USA, ArcelorMittal USA and Severstal NA. All raised base prices on flat rolled products by $40 per ton Read more ...

In last night's Steel Market Update (SMU) newsletter, we discussed what is needed in order for any new flat rolled steel price increases to "stick" in the marketplace. This is a question SMU receives on a regular basis and this is how we responded 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.