Final Thoughts
Final Thoughts
Written by John Packard
July 15, 2015
So, just when you think everything is going along very smoothly somebody or something throws you a curve. In business you should be used used to it, you should expect them. we had one thrown at us on Tuesday and Wednesday when an upgrade we were making to our software unexpectedly impacted our Steel Summit registration system. Nice timing. Just as our early bird discount was about to expire customers weren’t able to register.
To make up for the blip in the system (which has been corrected) we have extended our early bird registration period until the end of business on Tuesday, July 21st.
A note about the ITC commissioners vote – when speaking with attorney Lewis Leibowitz this evening (he is quoted in the ITC article in tonight’s issue) – he mentioned that critical circumstances does not appear to be on the table. Trading companies should confer with their attorneys.
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
Cleveland-Cliffs is seeking $750 per short ton (st) for hot-rolled coil. That’s $20/st above where the steelmaker had been. It’s also $30/st above Nucor, which is at $720/st this week. We've seen prices increase incrementally this week. SMU's HR price, for example, stands at $690/st on average, up $5/st from last week. The questions now are whether a number well above $700/st will stick, whether other mills will follow Cliffs, and whether there is enough demand to support higher prices.
Final thoughts
We got a little flack for adjusting our sheet momentum indicators to neutral last week. To be clear, we didn’t adjust them to lower. Part of the reason we moved them to neutral was because there are some unusual cross-currents in the current market. On the news side, you could make a case that there should nowhere to go but up.
Final thoughts
I think all of us know that sometimes courtships go wrong. A misplaced word or deed and soon things can go sideways, and not in the prices sense. Such could be the case with Japanese steelmaker Nippon Steel’s play for U.S. Steel.
Final thoughts
We’re starting to see some impacts of the big trade case filed last week against imports of coated flat-rolled steel from 10 nations. Namely, we’ve heard that a range of traders have stopped offering material from Vietnam. An alleged dumping margin of nearly 160% will do that. Especially amid chatter of critical circumstances.
Final thoughts
The phrase “political football” has been tossed around a lot lately. (Pun probably intended.) For the humble journalists at SMU who thought the week following Steel Summit would prove a quiet one… the news cycle had other ideas