Final Thoughts
Final Thoughts
Written by John Packard
November 6, 2015
I will be traveling to New York City tomorrow to participate in the Cowen & Company conference for the financial community. I will return to the office on Thursday morning.
For those of you keeping up with our move – all of the phones are working properly including our main 800 number (800-432-3475). You are also welcome to send emails to: info@SteelMarketUpdate.com should you have questions, housekeeping issues with your account or if you would like to add new people, upgrade to Premium, etc.
We will have more information coming out over the next couple of weeks regarding our Leadership Summit Conference which will be held at the PGA National Resort & Spa in Palm Beach Gardens on March 7-9, 2016. Please mark your calendars as this will be a unique conference at a special location at the right time of the year.
Booking is going well for our next Steel 101: Introduction to Steel Making & Market Fundamentals workshop which will be held at a brand new Marriott Hotel (just opened its doors last week) in Starkville, Mississippi. The dates are January 19-20, 2016. The hotel is about 20 minutes away from SDI Columbus which will be hosting our mill tour. Registration is open and available online or you are welcome to contact our office.
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
Now that the USS/Nippon deal has been completed, what's next?
Final Thoughts
Getting back to the price increases I mentioned at the top of this article, to what extent are they aimed at raising prices and to what extent are they aimed at stopping the bleeding that was happening in the second half of May, before President Trump announced the 50% tariff?
Final Thoughts
We just wrapped another Steel 101 Workshop, where you take what you learned in the classroom into the steel mill.
Final Thoughts
Steel equities and steel futures fell hard after news broke earlier this week that the US and Mexico might reach an agreement that would result in the 50% Section 232 tariff coming off Mexican steel. The sharp declines didn’t make much sense, especially if, as some reports indicate, Mexico might agree to a fixed quota. They didn't make sense even if steel flows between the US and Mexico remain unchanged.
Final Thoughts
Even before the news about Mexico, I didn’t want to overstate the magnitude of the change in momentum. As far as we could tell, there hadn’t been a frenzy of new ordering following President Trump’s announcement of 50% Section 232 tariffs. But higher tariffs had unquestionably raised prices for imports, which typically provide the floor for domestic pricing. We’d heard, for example, that prices below $800 per short ton for hot-rolled (HR) coil were gone from the domestic market – even for larger buyers.