Final Thoughts
Final Thoughts
Written by John Packard
November 24, 2014
First, I want to wish everyone in the United States a wonderful Thanksgiving Holiday with family and friends. Steel Market Update will not publish on Thursday but will return to our normal schedule on Sunday evening.
Our offices will be open both on Wednesday and Friday of this week but will be closed on Thanksgiving day.
A note that I will be speaking at the HARDI conference in San Antonio, Texas during the first weekend in December. After that we have a private sales consulting workshop we are producing for a service center. If your company has an interest in one-on-one workshops please contact me at: John@SteelMarketUpdate.com.
Our next Steel 101 workshop will be held in South Carolina on January 20-21, 2015. Details can be found on our website. Registration is open and a tour of the Nucor Berkeley steel mill is part of our program.
I want to welcome our newest members to the SMU community. If you have any questions, comments or suggestions please do not hesitate to contact our offices: info@SteelMarketUpdate.com or by phone: 800-432-3475. Many articles begin as one of our readers asks a question or makes a suggestion.
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
Can technology help with pig iron and DRI/HBI tariffs?
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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.