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    July 6, 2023

    Futures: Will Holding Pattern in HR Tags Stick Out Summer Lull?

    Written by Jack Marshall

    A short week with the July 4th Holiday kind of sums up recent HR futures activity. Subdued spot activity and not much change from the previous weeks’ indexes leaves the market time to roll exposures.

    The recent price increases appear to have given spot prices a pause. Heading into the cyclical summer soft spot, mills are trying to hold the line on prices. Some of the indexes reflect some price increases. (Spot Index $880/ST roughly.) The jury is still out as to whether there is enough demand to move prices higher on the back of soft manufacturing data. But given fairly tight inventory control at the service center level, any unexpected outages could be supportive of the current push to move the spot index prices higher, especially for certain regions and grades. The latest front month settlement values Jul’23 HR at $895/ST, up slightly from the latest  average of HR indexes. However,  lower global HR prices point to strong import competition and an increase in selling interest from importers.

    Jakc Marshall, SMU Contrubutor

    Jack Marshall

    Jack Marshall has over 30 years of experience trading and marketing financial futures and swaps, including currencies. Before joining Crunch Risk in 2012, Marshall was responsible for Forex Origination for BofA Merrill Lynch in their Chicago office. For Crunch Risk, he focuses on Ferrous scrap futures and helps manage client communications. Marshall is a regular contributor to the Steel Market Update newsletter covering topics including steel and steel scrap futures. He is NFA registered Associated Person and holds a Series 3 license. Marshall can be reached at jack.marshall@crunchrisk.com.

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