Price momentum has shifted dramatically in the steel spot market since mid-June following three price increase announcements by the major mills. Both service centers and their customers report rising prices in today’s marketplace. As seen in the chart below, 81 percent of the service centers polled by Steel Market Update just six weeks ago said […]
Construction employment continued to grow in June, but could have been stronger if more qualified workers were available for hire, said the Associated General Contractors of America in its latest analysis of federal employment data. “Demand for construction remains robust in most metro areas,” said Ken Simonson, the association’s chief economist. “But, with record job […]
My final thoughts will be just that as I remember the life of Asa Jonathan Berkowitz, Managing Director for Cotia (USA) Ltd. I met Asa at a Bank of America Merrill Lynch dinner hosted by Timna Tanners in New York City. At first, I was a little wary of Asa and I think he felt […]
Home prices continued to rise in May but at a much slower pace, according to the latest S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller National Home Price NSA Index. The Index showed an annual gain of 3.4 percent in May, down from 3.5 percent in April. The 20-City Composite price growth slipped to 2.4 percent from 2.5 percent the […]
Prices continued to move higher this week and the mills seem to have gotten a handle on price momentum both on flat rolled and plate. Whether this is temporary or not will depend on lead times and the ability of the steel mills to fill their order books. As one buyer told me this morning: […]
Rising steel prices may be giving a lift to industry attitudes. Steel Market Update’s latest Steel Buyers Sentiment Index shows an eight point increase in Current Sentiment and an 11 point increase in Future Sentiment. While a single week’s results can’t reliably predict a new trend, the uptick is a notable change from sentiment data […]
There have been $120 per ton ($6.00/cwt) of flat rolled price increases going back to late June. Nucor announced the first plate price increase late on Friday afternoon. That increase is $40 per ton. I heard from a couple of plate service centers who basically said, “It’s about time.” I guess those distributors will support […]
Steel Market Update data indicates that the mills have been able to collect some, but not all, of their recent price increases. Their apparent willingness to continue negotiating on spot orders, as reported by steel buyers to SMU, casts doubt on the resolve they will need to collect the rest. Certainly, steel prices are much […]
Lead times for steel delivery have continued moving out over the past two weeks as the three price increases announced by the mills have drawn more buyers off the sidelines. The average lead time for hot rolled has moved up to more than four weeks, cold rolled to about six weeks, and coated steels to […]
Sales of new homes rebounded in June after two months of decline, says new data released by the Commerce Department on Wednesday. Sales of new single-family homes were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 646,000 last month, a 7.0 percent increase from the revised May number and 4.5 percent higher than a year ago. […]
A note today for those companies who will be renewing their memberships for our newsletter in the coming weeks. Please take some time to speak with Paige Mayhair at 724-720-8630 or by email: Paige@SteelMarketUpdate.com to see what options we now have for membership. We made significant changes in the way we are marketing our newsletters, […]
Sales of existing homes declined 1.7 percent in June after gaining traction in May. Sales fell to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.27 million, according to the National Association of Realtors. Compared to May, sales declined in the South (-3.4 percent) and West (-3.5 percent) and improved slightly in the Northeast (+1.5 percent) and […]
It has been an interesting last four weeks with now three price increase announcements having been made by most of the steel mills. With this latest announcement, I am hearing from buyers the mills are pushing to get orders in “before the increases take effect.” A way of pushing the increases off for a few […]
Steel Market Update has been analyzing service center inventories for two years now. With our acquisition by the CRU Group, we expanded the breadth and depth of our coverage. Our new Service Center Inventories Index will be rolled out to the public at the 2019 SMU Steel Summit Conference in Atlanta at the end of […]
United Auto Workers and the Big Three automakers opened 2019 contract talks last week with ceremonial handshakes. Negotiations, however, have the potential to become contentious as auto workers seek a bigger share of company profits. “We invested in you, now it’s your turn to invest in us,” said United Auto Workers President Gary Jones at […]
Construction employment continued to climb in June said the Associated General Contractors of America in its latest analysis of Labor Department data. Construction employment increased in 30 states from May to June while 42 states added jobs between June 2018 and June 2019. Association officials said worker shortage remains a concern for the industry. “Construction […]
Tomorrow we will begin our mid-July flat rolled and plate steel market trends analysis. This means we will have more information regarding pricing (Tuesday), lead times and negotiations (Thursday) and Sentiment and service center spot (Thursday or Sunday) along with other information developed through our questionnaire. If you would like to be included as a […]
Housing starts declined slightly in June as single-family starts failed to offset a decline in multi-family construction. Starts in June dropped just under 1 percent from the revised May rate to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,253,000. Single-family housing starts rose 3.5 percent from May to a SAAR of 847,000, while construction of apartment […]
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 […]
In Sunday’s issue of Steel Market Update, we adjusted our Price Momentum Indicator on flat rolled from Neutral to Higher. One of the justifications for that move was the Service Center Spot data we were collecting last week. In our analysis, we found a change in pricing mentality, not a 180 degree change, but a […]
Most of my day today was spent communicating with steel buyers and a few steel mills to see where prices are being offered on the spot market by the mills, and where transactions were occurring. As I went through this process, I also collect comments about whether increases are “sticking’ and if the industry believes […]
Steel Market Update has moved our Price Momentum Indicator on flat rolled products from Neutral to Higher. We continue to reference plate Price Momentum at Lower. This move is being made after the domestic steel mills, led by Nucor, announced two rounds of $40 per ton price increases over the past two weeks. SMU is […]
Industry optimism, as measured by Steel Market Update’s Steel Buyers Sentiment Index, continues to waver in the face of uncertain demand in some sectors and steel prices that are at an important tipping point. The mills have announced price increases totaling $80 per ton in the past two weeks. If they succeed in reversing the […]
Heating and cooling equipment shipments were just over two million units in May, down 2.4 percent compared to one year ago, according to data recently released by the Air-Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute (AHRI). This is the second consecutive month that total monthly equipment shipments have declined on a year-over-year basis since September 2018. Residential […]
We should get a better handle and read on the market, and the strength of the market over the next one to two weeks. The Fourth of July Holiday is over, people are returning to work and decisions are going to have to be made regarding purchases for September through fourth quarter. As you can […]
Steel price negotiations have tightened considerably as the mills have begun to hold firm in support of two $40 per ton price increases announced in the past two weeks. Note that Steel Market Update began gathering the data below on Monday, just prior to the latest mill price increase announcements on Tuesday and Wednesday. In […]
Lead times for steel delivery have moved out a bit in the past two weeks, lending support to recent mill price increases. The average lead time for hot rolled has moved up to nearly four weeks, cold rolled to nearly six weeks, and coated steels to more than six weeks. Plate lead times are bucking […]
Construction employment increased by 224,000 jobs, or 3.2 percent, in the last 12 months and by 21,000 jobs in June, said the Associated General Contractors of America in its latest analysis of government data. Most job creation occurred in the nonresidential construction sector in June and in the past year. Non-residential contractors added 14,900 jobs […]
I am carefully watching flat rolled and plate lead times, the ongoing negotiations and tone of the discussions between buyers and sellers of steel, as well as industry sentiment and how service centers are handling their spot pricing into their customers. We are seeing some signs of momentum shifting on some products (especially coated), but […]
The Dodge Momentum Index improved in June, rising 4.0 percent to 146.1 from a revised reading of 140.5 in May. The monthly index measures the first report for nonresidential building projects in planning, which has been shown to lead construction spending by a full year. Initiation of planning for institutional building projects jumped 6.1 percent, […]