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    January 12, 2023

    Ferrous Futures: Global Ferrous Rally Gaining Steam

    Written by David Feldstein

    Editor’s note: SMU Contributor David Feldstein is president of Rock Trading Advisors. Rock provides customers attached to the steel industry with commodity price risk management services and market intelligence. RTA is registered with the National Futures Association as a Commodity Trade Advisor. David has over 20 years of professional trading experience and has been active in the ferrous derivatives space since 2012.

    Here is the chart of the rolling second month CME Midwest hot-rolled coil (HRC) future going back just over two years to remind you it was at $700 in October 2020, over $1,000 by January 2021, $1,265 by March, $1,600 by May, and $1,840 on the last day of June. The second month future settled at $1,330 on the last day of 2021, and then bottomed at $955 just seven weeks after that on Feb. 18, 2022. Forty-five days after that, it settled up $640 at $1,595, and 45 days after that on May 19, it was at $1,171. Fast forward another 60 days and the price fell to $850.

    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.