Final Thoughts

Final Thoughts
Written by John Packard
November 24, 2013
Steel Market Update will publish our second Premium Supplement Newsletter on Monday. Included will be our SMU Key Market Indicators and forecast, September imports by product, port and country and articles related to our most recent steel market analysis not available elsewhere.
If you are interested in upgrading one of your memberships to the Premium Level please contact our office at: info@SteelMarketUpdate.com or by phone at 800-432-3475 (706-216-5440).
Our next Monthly Newsletter will be published early next week. The Monthly Newsletter packages all of the key events and data from the month of November in an easily digestible format. We do include exclusive articles for just our Monthly members from Peter Wright and me. The newsletter is for those who do not want to read our Executive Newsletter three times per week yet would appreciate our analysis and Keys to Watch for the month of December. This newsletter is intended for the busy executive, smaller companies who cannot yet afford the Executive Newsletter or those just wanting an over-view of the market once per month. It can also be an excellent review for our Executive members who would desire one. The cost is a reasonable $300 per year.
A note for those of you who would like to speak with me this week – I am in California for the next 10 days. I can be reached on my cell phone: 770-596-6268 (California is 3 hours behind east coast time) or by email: John@SteelMarketUpdate.com
On December 5th and 6th I will be in New York City attending the AIIS dinner and other industry related events. On the 8th of December I will be in Phoenix speaking to the HARDI wholesalers steel committee.
We continue to collect comments regarding our new website. The vast majority of them are finding the site expansive and useful. As an existing member we do need for you to log into the website at least once to adjust your account settings and change your password. If you have misplaced the user name and password we sent to you previously – we can reset it and send you a new one. Just contact our office at: info@SteelMarketUpdate.com or you are more than welcome to contact our office by phone for assistance: 800-432-3475. Both John Temples and Brett Linton will be in the office to work through any issues you might be having and to introduce you to the website.
Your business is important to us and we do not want to leave anyone behind – please log into the new website.
As always your business is truly appreciate by all of us here at Steel Market Update.
Sincerely,
John Packard
Publisher

John Packard
Read more from John PackardLatest in Final Thoughts

Final Thoughts
Can technology help with pig iron and DRI/HBI tariffs?

Final Thoughts
Tariff-related noise aside, there is one basic factor keeping buyers on the sidelines. Despite recent declines, HR prices remain at historically high levels. And there is no obvious support to keep them there.

Final Thoughts
United Airlines raised eyebrows earlier this month when it provided two forecasts for 2025 – one assuming a relatively stable economy and another assuming a recession. The reason? Uncertainty around the impact of President Trump’s policy shocks on the broader economy. And it sometimes feels like we’re seeing a battle between those two narratives (stable vs recession) play out within in the pages of this newsletter.

Final Thoughts
Despite some scary headlines lately (especially about Trump potentially firing Fed Chair Jerome Powell) this is not October 2008 (financial crisis) or March 2020 (onset of the pandemic). But it sure seems like we’ve taken a relatively strong economy and poured a thick sauce of uncertainty over it.

Final Thoughts
I put some of our survey data through ChatGpt, with interesting results.