Final Thoughts
Final Thoughts
Written by John Packard
July 17, 2019
A note about the Oct. 8-9 Steel 101 workshop in Cincinnati. The workshop is about 50 percent filled as of today and we do expect this workshop will be sold out prior to the event. We will be visiting the Nucor Gallatin steel mill in Ghent, Ky. Excluding transportation to and from the hotel from the airport and the hotel room costs, all other costs are included in the registration fee. This includes breakfast and lunch on both days, networking cocktail party/dinner the first day, all breaks and transportation to and from Nucor Gallatin to the hotel. We also have a 100+ page booklet that follows a good portion of the workshop and has additional information valuable to attendees.
The attendees will also have access to the PowerPoint slides after the program has concluded. Every Steel 101 workshop is a little different than the one before as we analyze our audience and take the feedback we get to improve the program. For more information, please go to www.SteelMarketUpdate.com/Events/Steel101. You can also find a reservation link there.
The SMU Events App is scheduled to be released either tomorrow or on Monday to registered paid attendees only. We are going through last minute testing and tweaks right now. When it is released, those who are registered and paid will be in the App. Brett Linton from my office will provide information about how to obtain the App, if you have not already done so. He will also provide information on how to get into the App if you already have it from previous conferences, and then how to toggle from one year to another. The SMU App will have a number of features that those attending the conference will need to use: the list of attendees (not available anywhere else), speakers and their biographies; once the conference starts we will load speaker presentations. The App also has survey questions that you will be asked to complete prior to the conference interactive program. The App has real-time polling, which we will be using during the conference. It has the agenda, a way of communicating and setting up meetings with other attendees, and social media links so you can post on social media without needing to leave the App. Go to your phone’s App store and look for the Steel Market Update Events app.
SMU NexGen Leadership Award – please take a few minutes to nominate someone 35 years or younger from your company. The winner will receive a tremendous number of benefits including a mentoring day with SDI CEO Mark Millett, free registration (value of $2,000) to an SMU Steel 101 or 201 training workshop either yet this year or during calendar year 2020, free registration to next year’s SMU Steel Summit Conference (value of at least $1,375) and much more. For more information, go to www.SMUAward.com or contact me at 800-432-3475 or by email: John@SteelMarketUpdate.com
The SMU NexGen Leadership Award will be presented at this year’s conference. Registrations are well ahead of last year’s pace when we had 912 executives attend the 2018 conference. I am not going to give out where we are regarding specific registration numbers. If you want to know where we finally ended up, be at the 8 AM opening of the conference on Tuesday, Aug. 27 (do not get confused, the conference begins at 1 PM on Monday and there is a pre-conference Managing Price Risk Workshop beginning at 10:30 AM on Monday morning, Aug. 26).
You can keep tabs on the companies registered for the 2019 SMU Steel Summit Conference on our website: www.SteelMarketUpdate.com/Events/Steel-Summit. You can learn much more about our conference, see photos from last year’s event, agenda and how to register by clicking on this link. If you need help registering for the conference, please send an email to Events@SteelMarketUpdate.com or you can contact Paige Mayhair at 724-720-1012.
Hotels are getting very close to being sold out across the board. Please let me know if you are having any issues as we do have a couple of hotels on backup where we can arrange some special rates once we know the Atlanta Airport Marriott Hotel (one exit south of Gateway hotels and GICC convention center) room block has been depleted. You can reach out to Events@SteelMarketUpdate.com if you are having any issues.
I will be in my office until July 30 when I will fly to Minnesota and then on to Atlanta.
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
We’ve talked about tariffs ad nauseam for much of the year. And I’m afraid this topic isn’t going away anytime soon. There’s a feeling that the tariff “can” will just be kicked down the road again and again, and again.
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.