Final Thoughts
Final Thoughts
Written by John Packard
April 20, 2015
We have been receiving a number of inquiries regarding changing Executive level memberships and upgrading them to Premium level. This is something we can do for any company or individual at any point in time during the year. It does not have to wait until your membership is up for renewal. If you want to take Premium out for a test drive we can arrange that as well. Premium members receive access to our flat rolled steel surveys in both a Power Point and interactive data formats. Premium members receive our special analysis and forecast of service center flat rolled shipments and inventories as well as our Imports by Product, Port & Country monthly reports. There are a number of special reports that are produced during the month which are sent to Premium members in the form of a special supplemental newsletter. These articles include our Key Market Indicators, currency updates for steel trading nations, construction put-in-place and many more. The Premium product is meant for those who need a deeper analysis or special focus on economic and steel data which is not readily available elsewhere. If you have any questions please contact us at: info@SteelMarketUpdate.com or by phone: 800-432-3475.
SMU Correction: SMU incorrectly reported a fatality at the Ecorse plant in December 2014 in our last issue. That fatality actually occurred in December 2013.
A friendly reminder to those of you who are interested in either attending or considering sending someone to our next Steel 101 workshop. We continue to have spots available in our May 19-20, 2015 program which will be held in Merriville, Indiana and will include a tour of the NLMK USA, Portage, Indiana steel mill. Details can be found on our website: www.SteelMarketUpdate.com.
We welcome our newest members as well as those of you who have recently registered for a free trial to our newsletter and website. I want to remind everyone that we have an open dialogue policy and encourage questions, comments and suggestions on a wide range of topics. If you would like to communicate with SMU you can do so by sending an email to: info@SteelMarketUpdate.com. I can be reached at either that email or directly at: John@SteelMarketUpdate.com. We look forward to hearing from you and do not be shy about suggesting what we might do to improve our products.
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
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.