Final Thoughts
Final Thoughts
Written by John Packard
February 7, 2018
We are working on an article about what companies are doing with the tax windfall they will be receiving this year. We have noticed a couple of companies like Mill Steel that are giving their employees a bonus check. We would like to include your company in our article should you be doing something special for your employees (raises, bonuses, etc.). Please send any comments, press releases to: Tim@SteelMarketUpdate.com.
We have a few spots left in our March 28-29 Steel 101: Introduction to Steel Making & Market Fundamentals workshop, which will be held just outside of Chicago in Merrillville, Ind. Included will be a tour of the NLMK Portage steel mill. Details can be found on our website: www.SteelMarketUpdate.com/events/steel101.
The Department of Commerce submitted the Section 232 report and recommendations on steel on Jan. 11. By my calculations, we are 28 days into the 90 days that President Trump has to make his announcement.
Here are some of my travel plans over the next couple of months. If you would like to meet with me during the Port of Tampa Conference or the FMA Annual Meeting, please shoot me an email at John@SteelMarketUpdate.com.
I will be at the Port of Tampa Steel Conference on Feb. 19-21.
I will be at the FMA Annual Meeting in Scottsdale, Ariz., at the end of March.
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
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