Final Thoughts

Final Thoughts
Written by John Packard
September 2, 2013
When is Sunday really Monday and Tuesday suppose to be Wednesday…? One of the changes SMU is making is to date our newsletters on the day they are actually produced and sent. So, you will note that tonight’s newsletter is dated, Tuesday, September 3rd as opposed to Wednesday, September 4th.
SMU will produce three Executive Newsletters per week – on Sunday evening, Tuesday evening and Thursday evening with the exception of holidays and the week between Christmas and New Years.
We are conducting our early September steel market analysis this week. Invitations were sent out at 7:30 AM on Tuesday morning and reminders will go out at 8:00 AM ET tomorrow (Wednesday). Please take a moment to find your invite, click on the link and fill out our questionnaire.
What to watch this week: scrap prices for the month of June, SMU Steel Buyers Sentiment Index, lead times and mill negotiations.
As always your business is truly appreciated by all of us here at Steel Market Update.

John Packard
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Final Thoughts
A lot of the changes basically entail rolling back what I’ll call, for fun, Section 232 Lite. S232 Lite resulted from watering down what I’ll call OG S232 – the one first imposed in March 2018 - with exemptions and exclusions over the years. Now, OG Section 232, is back with its across-the-board 25% tariffs against everyone.

Final Thoughts
An exciting first look at the results from SMU's first scrap survey.

Final Thoughts
As Wolfe Research’s Timna Tanners put it in her opening talk at Tampa on Monday afternoon, we’re living in a world of “Trumplications” now. That probably means – at least in the short term – higher scrap costs, lower imports from countries hit with or threated tariffs, and higher steel prices. SMU data reflects that. Scrap went up in January. More than 75% of the respondents to our more recent survey expect scrap to go up again February, maybe by a lot. Lead times, meanwhile, have been ticking upward this month. It started with hot-rolled coil and plate earlier this month. Now we’re seeing coated lead times extending too.

Final Thoughts
We joked in our last Final Thoughts that Wiley trade attorney Tim Brightbill – one of the nation’s leading experts on trade law and policy – would probably be revising his presentation on Trump, trade policy, and tariffs for the Tampa Steel Conference. He did. And even after those last-minute revisions, he actually got trumped […]

Final Thoughts
The whole SMU team is packing up our laptops and our SMU polos/cardigans, loading up the PowerPoint slides, and preparing to make the trek down to Florida for the Tampa Steel Conference. There will be plenty to talk about!