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    December 3, 2020

    HRC Futures: Rally Takes a Breather After Gaining $300 Since Memorial Day

    Written by David Feldstein

    Editor’s note: SMU Contributor David Feldstein is president of Rock Trading Advisors. David has over 20 years of trading experience in financial markets and has been active in the ferrous futures space for over eight years. You can learn more at www.thefeldstein.com or add him on twitter @TheFeldstein and on Instragram at #thefeldstein.

    An aggressive buyer(s) emerged last Monday (June 29) in CME HR futures. The further loss of tons due to the accident at SDI’s Columbus mill and the longer-than-expected planned maintenance outage at Nucor Gallatin were just learned the week before, so perhaps there was follow-through buying or short covering in relation to the news. However, this buyer was a bit peculiar. This buyer wasn’t interested in the near-term months that would be most affected by these latest production issues, but rather Q2 and Q3 2022 and, as you can see below, the buying pushed some of those months up by twice as much as the closer months. 

    David Feldstein, SMU Contributor

    David Feldstein

    SMU Contributor David Feldstein is president of Rock Trading Advisors. David has over 20 years of financial market trading experience and has been active in the ferrous futures space since 2012. Feldstein earned an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business with concentrations in economics, statistics and analytical finance. He can be reached at davefeldstein@gmail.com.

    Read more from David Feldstein

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    Nucor said on Monday, Oct. 12, that its consumer spot price (CSP) for hot-rolled (HR) coil will be $1,240 per short ton (st) this week, a $10/st increase from a week earlier. The CSP for HR coil from California Steel Industries (CSI) on the West Coast will be $1,305/st, up $15/st from the prior week. Nucor is still offering lead times of three to five weeks, according to the letter to customers. You can track mill price announcements on our website. Steel Market Update (SMU) published a weekly price assessment on Tuesday, Oct. 6, showing HR coil prices averaging $1,270/st, up $10/st from the previous week. We will update our prices on the evening of Tuesday, Oct. 13.