Final Thoughts
Final Thoughts
Written by John Packard
October 3, 2014
I will take a moment to recommend the Armada Corporate Intelligence report and the Armada website as something those in the marketing sections of your company may want to subscribe to. The cost is negligible and the value is quite high in my opinion. A good example is on their website on Saturday, October 4th they had an article about the Credit Managers Index. In the article they talk about the drop in the index and its relationship to predicting future PMI (purchasing managers index) direction. The latest CMI dropped significantly and, according to Armada, “This was not a small reversal of fortune by any stretch of the imagination, this could be termed a collapse and it begs a very important question. Who is correct – the Purchasing Managers Index or the Credit Managers Index?” You can read the full Armada Flash Advance Report by clicking here.
On Monday we will begin our early October flat rolled steel market survey. Invitations should go out around 8 AM ET.
I will be out of the office on Monday afternoon and all day Tuesday and Wednesday as we are conducting one of our Steel 101 workshops in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Diana and Brett will be in the office to answer any questions you might have.
As always your business is truly appreciated by all of us here at Steel Market Update.
John Packard, Publisher
John Packard
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Final Thoughts
A short tour of key dates in the Nippon/USS deal, and what the future might hold.
Final Thoughts
I sort of expected big news last Friday and over the long, Memorial Day weekend. Because that's become more the norm than the exception for steel this year. Sure enough, Trump posted on Truth Social on Friday afternoon that he had given his blessing to a “partnership” between Nippon Steel and U.S. Steel. And then over the weekend we had market moving new on tariffs, this time involving the EU.
Final Thoughts
We're going to have to wait a bit longer for the final outcome of the Nippon/USS deal.
Final Thoughts
Sure, demand isn’t as good the market had hoped it would be earlier this year. But assuming it doesn’t fall of a cliff, buyers will have to restock at some point. And that might give domestic mills enough leverage to raise prices again.
Final Thoughts
While I would anticipate market sentiment to pivot and improve if all the questions around tariffs were answered, that still leaves us with a few other factors.