Final Thoughts
Final Thoughts
Written by John Packard
October 27, 2017
Steel Market Update (SMU) will begin our next flat rolled steel market trends survey at 8 AM ET tomorrow (Monday). If you receive an invitation, please take a few moments to click on the button in the message and fill out our questionnaire. Most people are able to get through the process in less than five minutes. We think this will be an important barometer to see if the price increases are taking hold, what is happening with lead times and mill negotiations, as well as how steel distributors are handling spot sales to their customers. Again, look for the invitation to participate at 8 AM ET.
A second reminder that our Steel 101: Introduction to Steel Making & Market Fundamentals workshop scheduled for Mobile, Ala. on Jan. 24-25, 2018, is sold out. We are creating a waiting list, and we are hopeful we will be able to accommodate a couple of those on the list once we get closer to the workshop dates. The Mobile workshop includes a tour of the SSAB Mobile minimill.
Following Mobile, we will be traveling to Portage, Ind., to tour the NLMK USA minimill. We are working on finalizing the dates of that workshop, which will be in the month of March. After Portage, we anticipate hosting another Steel 101 workshop in May, then we are looking at one during the summer months and finally one in October.
I want to welcome a new addition to the Steel Market Update family. We have added Jill Waldman to our Events team. Jill will be working with Ray Culley and me on next year’s SMU Steel Summit Conference. She will be involved first with coordinating our sponsor and exhibitor efforts. If you would like to communicate with her, she can be reached at Jill@SteelMarketUpdate.com.
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.