Final Thoughts

Final Thoughts

Written by John Packard


For all of you golf fanatics, it was fun to see Tiger Woods win after a 14-year drought at the Masters, and after his serious back injuries that made it look doubtful if he would ever be able to play again, never mind win a Masters Championship.

I don’t have the exact count of current registrations for the 2019 SMU Steel Summit Conference, only that the number exceeds 300 people with 4.5 months to go. Here are the companies that registered this past week. Those with an * after their name registered more than one person: Calstrip Industries*, Whirlpool, Ryerson*, JFE Shoji Trade America, Rheem Manufacturing*, Wallner Expac, Inc.*, Ram Steel Framing, Oshkosh Corporation*, Big River Steel, JSW Steel USA* and Midrex Technologies, Inc.

The SMU Steel Summit Conference will be held at the Georgia International Convention Center in Atlanta. The convention center is located right next to the Atlanta International Airport (not downtown). The dates of the conference are Aug. 26-28. If you would like to learn more about our conference, you can go to our website: www.SteelMarketUpdate.com/Events/Steel-Summit or you can download our brochure by clicking on this link.

If you would like to register, you can click on the link on our website or you can click here to go directly to the registration page.

CRU is also conducting an Aluminum Market Update Conference on Aug. 28-29 at the Atlanta Airport Marriott Gateway Hotel (next to the GICC convention center where the SMU Steel Summit is held). If you would like to learn more about the Aluminum Summit, please click here.

We are one month away from our next Steel 101: Introduction to Steel Making & Market Fundamentals Workshop. The workshop is being held in Davenport, Iowa, and includes a tour of the SSAB steel mill. The workshop dates are May 14 & 15, 2019. For more details about the workshop, costs to attend and how to register go to www.SteelMarketUpdate.com/Events/Steel101

Becoming a member of Steel Market Update has its privileges. Member companies (and all of their employees) get discounts to attend SMU events such as the 2019 SMU Steel Summit Conference and any of our Steel 101 Workshops. Members also can register to attend the CRU New York Steel Briefing on Monday, June 17 at the Westin Hotel, 811 7th Avenue, New York City. For more details and how to register for this free event, please click here.

As always, your business is truly appreciated by all of us here at Steel Market Update.

John Packard, President & CEO

Latest in Final Thoughts

Final thoughts

Thanks to everyone who attended our Steel Hedging 101 workshop in Chicago on Wednesday. I learned a lot from StoneX Group’s Spencer Johnson, who instructs the course, and from your good questions. One thing that Spencer said sticks with me as I write this column. Namely, that momentum drives steel prices more than other commodity markets. If you watch steel futures, you’ll see up days and down days. But it’s rare to see the momentum shifting back and forth within any given day.