Final Thoughts
Final Thoughts
Written by John Packard
May 19, 2014
It has been a very busy last 24 hours for Steel Market Update as we try to stay on top of all of the important news items, pricing, conduct our mid-May flat rolled market analysis and work on completing arrangements for our September Steel Conference.
We learned that US Steel Gary Works has all of their blast furnaces in operation. We also learned that USS Great Lakes is on schedule and steelmaking is coming back online. We inquired with ArcelorMittal regarding their C-5 blast furnace which, we were told last week, should be coming back online this week. To the best of our knowledge all of the other blast furnaces are, at this moment, operating. ArcelorMittal is expected to take their largest furnace at Indiana Harbor down at the beginning of June for close to two months. That appears to be the only major disruption in supply as far as furnaces are concerned. This too may change but that is what we know at this moment.
I mentioned our September Forecasting and Steel Summit in my opening paragraph. Steel Market Update is working very, very hard to produce an exceptional conference which we hope will be one of the highest quality conferences produced this year. We have expanded the length of the program from three-quarters of one day to two days. We are locating the conference right next to the Atlanta airport at the Georgia International Convention Center and the award winning Mariott located next door. Both are located on the first stop on the free light rail shuttle from the airport. Those living in the Southeast can also rest assured that the facility is easily accessible either by car or by using MARTA to go to the airport and then taking the “other” train to the GICC/Mariott.
I have mentioned a few of the speakers both in this newsletter (check the articles) and in previous articles. We will have more announcements about our program in the coming days.
We are already getting requests for registration and hotel information. We are working on getting the information online with our target date of June 1st to have everything ready for those interested in attending (which we hope is all of you). The dates to put aside are September 3 & 4t2014-05-20h…
A side note – on the bottom left hand side of our Home Page you will find a “poll” which anyone can participate in. No names needed. It is just a way to stay involved and you can find out how everyone who is taking the poll is voting by clicking on the “View” button. One vote within a 24 hour period. So go ahead and stack the deck and vote each and every day….
As always your business is truly appreciated by all of us here at Steel Market Update.
John Packard, Publisher
John Packard
Read more from John PackardLatest in Final Thoughts
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.
Final Thoughts
Nearly 50% of respondents to our latest survey thought hot-rolled coil prices have already peaked. And where will those prices be two months from now? Responses were decidedly split on that question.