Final Thoughts
Final Thoughts
Written by John Packard
March 30, 2015
A note to those interested in attending our Steel 101: Introduction to Steel Making & Market Fundamentals workshop in May. The workshop is about 50 percent fully registered at this time. The location is Merriville, Indiana just outside of Chicago. Our mill tour will be of the NLMK Indiana electric arc furnace (EAF) plant which produces slabs and rolls hot rolled coils. This is a good workshop for those interested in learning more about the steel making process, rolling process (both flat and long products), how steel is bought and sold and the issues which impact prices and relationships. You can find more details on our website or you are welcome to contact our office for more information. We can be reached at: 800-432-3475 or info@SteelMarketUpdate.com.
I was reading the Armada Intelligence Brief this evening and Dr. Kuehl and his partner were concentrating on the fighting between Saudia Arabia soldiers and the Houthi rebels in Yemen.
On the face of this it just appears to be a regional conflict much like many others. However, the Houthi are supported by Iran and Yemen sits in a strategic point in the Middle East which could affect oil shipments through the Gulf of Aden. Any threat to the region would be met by the U.S. 5th Fleet. It could pit the Iranian navy (the same Iran we are negotiating with over nuclear testing, the same Iran fighting against ISIS in Iraq) against the U.S. 5th Fleet. What a crazy world we live in.
Dr. Chris Kuehl of Armada Corporate Intelligence will be at our 5th Steel Summit Conference where we can hear first-hand about all the craziness in the world and it’s impact on the U.S. economy. Mark your calendars: September 1 & 2, 2015 in Atlanta, Georgia, SMU Steel Summit Conference.
As always your business is truly appreciated by all of us at Steel Market Update.
John Packard, Publisher
John Packard
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Final Thoughts
I’m trying to make sure this is not a TL;DR Final Thoughts. As a journalism school professor once told me, ‘No one but your mom reads more than 1,000 words.’ Also, as the old adage goes, a picture is worth a thousand as well. With that in mind, below are a couple of charts that I think go a long way toward explaining how prices and lead times have been relatively stable despite concerns about demand.
Final Thoughts
It’s another week of big headlines for the world writ large – an expanding war in the Middle East, another potentially catastrophic hurricane – and not much going on in the world of steel prices. “Call me Stevie Wonder, I see nothing.” That’s how one service center executive described the current sheet market. There seems to be almost a competition among some of our Community Chat guests and contributors to outdo each other in flowery ways to say, “
Final Thoughts
Surprise, surprise. Forget Halloween, the trend this October is all around the unexpected. Known as the “October Surprise,” you never know what is in store for you in the month before a US presidential election. Still, if we pull back the dial back date-wise a little bit, a familiar theme has been added to the mix: kick the can.
Final Thoughts
Another day, another massive gap between the news and market sentiment. On the news side, we’ve got war in the Middle East. The devastation facing western North Carolina coming into tragic focus. And the outcome of the presidential election remains a coin toss, according to current polling.
Final thoughts
There are markets where the headlines and the prices are both crazy. This does not appear to be one of them, at least not yet.