Final Thoughts
Final Thoughts
Written by John Packard
May 27, 2016
To all of our U.S. readers, welcome back from the Memorial Day Holiday. Each holiday is a big deal to me as this past weekend was one of those rare occasions where I wasn’t writing or studying the market every day and was able to actually take a couple of days off and give my hands a rest. Next holiday is the 4th of July…
At any point in time Steel Market Update (SMU) has up to 200 individuals on a free trial of our newsletter and website. I encourage those on a trial to spend some time on our website. If you need assistance in getting in, needing help in finding something or just want to ask questions about the website and our data, feel free to contact Brett Linton at: Brett@SteelMarketUpdate.com and he will do his best to help you.
Recently, a large manufacturing company who is on a trial asked us if we would be available to answer questions. My response is we want to interact with our customers as much as possible. I recently responded to another manufacturing company who submitted a list of questions they and their customers had about the market and I did my best to respond to the best of my ability. If you have a question I can be reached at: John@SteelMarketUpdate.com
Someone was asking me questions recently about the flat rolled trade cases and the Section 337 filing by US Steel against China. The questions were better asked of an attorney than myself and I provided Lewis Leibowitz’s email address. I also mentioned that one of the advantages of attending our Steel Summit Conference (Atlanta, Aug 29-31, 2016) is having the opportunity to meet and speak directly to many of our speakers. SMU highly encourages our speakers to attend our full conference and I know that attorney Lewis Leibowitz is one that enjoys doing just that. The “free” consulting/networking you are able to receive during the conference is probably worth more than the cost of admission… There is a full conference schedule in tonight’s issue. You can read the speakers’ biographies and learn more on our website: www.SteelMarketUpdate.com which is also where you can register. If you have any problems please contact my office: 800-432-3475 (772-245-8630).
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
I sort of expected big news last Friday and over the long, Memorial Day weekend. Because that's become more the norm than the exception for steel this year. Sure enough, Trump posted on Truth Social on Friday afternoon that he had given his blessing to a “partnership” between Nippon Steel and U.S. Steel. And then over the weekend we had market moving new on tariffs, this time involving the EU.
Final Thoughts
We're going to have to wait a bit longer for the final outcome of the Nippon/USS deal.
Final Thoughts
Sure, demand isn’t as good the market had hoped it would be earlier this year. But assuming it doesn’t fall of a cliff, buyers will have to restock at some point. And that might give domestic mills enough leverage to raise prices again.
Final Thoughts
While I would anticipate market sentiment to pivot and improve if all the questions around tariffs were answered, that still leaves us with a few other factors.
Final Thoughts
Let's see what SMU survey respondents are saying about Trump's tariffs.