Final Thoughts
Final Thoughts
Written by John Packard
July 2, 2018
Welcome back to those of you in the United States who had the Fourth of July off, but didn’t decide to take a few extra days and extend the holiday. SMU was closed on Tuesday and Wednesday in honor of the Fourth and also to give myself a bit of a break having just been in New York City and London over the past week.
For those of you registered to attend our 8th SMU Steel Summit Conference on Aug. 27-29 in Atlanta, the room blocks have been sold out on the three Gateway hotels next to the convention center. We still have rooms available at the Atlanta Airport Marriott Hotel from which we will be running a shuttle to the Georgia International Convention Center. At our last count, there were 70 rooms left in that room block.
The Atlanta Airport Marriott Hotel is 1.5 miles south of the Georgia International Convention Center, but includes a complimentary shuttle. Click here to book your stay here at $151/night or you may book over the phone at 1-888-239-1203; ask for the Steel Market Update room block.
Here are some of the recent registrations as we bump up against 700 registered attendees for the 2018 conference with 52 days to go: Lapham-Hickey Steel, Honda Trading de Mexico, Norfolk Iron & Metal Co., Luminus Management, CAN-PACK S.A., Mississippi Steel Processing, MISA, Westman Steel Industries, Metal Center News, National Oilwell Varco, Quality Edge, Inc., Worthington Industries and Majestic Steel. If you have any questions about pricing, how to register, hotels or just general questions, I am happy to answer them for you. You can reach me at John@SteelMarketUpdate.com or by phone at 800-432-3475.
My meeting in London with CRU management and members of their various teams made me feel very comfortable with the decision I made to sell the company to them. I know it will take some time, but we are already hard at work developing or expanding on projects that I began but needed help to bring to fruition. SMU will continue to be on the cutting edge as we grow our business.
As always, your business is truly appreciated by all of us here at Steel Market Update.
John Packard, President & CEO
John Packard
Read more from John PackardLatest in Final Thoughts
Final Thoughts
A short tour of key dates in the Nippon/USS deal, and what the future might hold.
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.