Steel mills continue to feel comfortable when negotiating with their customers. We found that only one quarter of the steel buyers responding to our survey for this week reported the mills as willing to discuss the possibility of adjusting (lowering) steel spot prices. We found this to be consistent across all flat rolled products: hot […]
US automakers set a new record for annual sales with a total of 17.465 million light vehicles in 2016, a 0.4 percent increase from 2015’s record year, according to WardsAuto. Sales in December reached 1.68 million units as consumers were attracted by manufacturer discounts. Incentives of 10 percent off sticker price were offered in December […]
The Steel Market Update (SMU) Price Momentum Index (MoMo) for hot rolled steel in the United States remained positive for the eighth consecutive week, following a 17 week long negative streak. MoMo is a trailing indicator and shows the relationship between the current U.S. hot rolled coil price movements against the previous 12-week average price as […]
It has been a busy (albeit short) week. I mentioned in my last newsletter that we are actively in the process of reviewing and building a new website. Beginning this evening, we have our website designers (K3 Technologies out of Atlanta) here in our Florida offices for the next few days so we can work […]
Each month the Commerce Department issues its Construction Put in Place (CPIP) data, usually on the first working day covering activity two months earlier. November data for CPIP was released on Tuesday, January 3rd. The most notable feature of this update was the apparent response to the $305 billion infrastructure in the bill that Congress […]
Ford Motor Company announced today that it is canceling plans to build a new plant in San Luis Potosi, Mexico and will invest in electrical vehicle production in the U.S. About half of the $1.6 billion that was designated for the Mexican plant will be used instead to expand the Flat Rock Assembly Plant in […]
An explanation of the Key Indicators concept is given at the end of this piece for those readers who are unfamiliar with it. This will explain the difference between our view of the present situation which is subjective and our analysis of trends which is based on the latest facts available. Looking back from the […]
Well, we made it through 2016 in one piece and we are excited to see what the New Year has in store for the steel industry and those affected by the steel industry. I want to thank all of you who sent messages to me over the weekend. A special note of thanks to Chris […]
The Steel Market Update (SMU) Price Momentum Index (MoMo) for hot rolled steel in the United States remained positive for the seventh consecutive week, following a 17 week long negative streak. MoMo is a trailing indicator and shows the relationship between the current U.S. hot rolled coil price movements against the previous 12-week average price as […]
Today’s issue is our 150th Executive newsletter (Volume 11, Issue 150). We averaged 11.4 articles per issue so we published 1718 articles. On top of that we published 51 Premium newsletters which average 2.5 articles per issue for another 124 articles. We have produced thousands of graphics, many of which our readers are able to […]
Based on the results of the Steel Market Update flat rolled steel market trends analysis performed prior to the Holiday weekend steel mill lead times continue to be extended. The respondents to our survey reported on the amount of time it takes to get hot rolled, cold rolled, galvanized and Galvalume produced from the time […]
There was little movement in the positions of the domestic steel makers when it came to their willingness to negotiate spot flat rolled steel prices this past week. Respondents to our final flat rolled steel market trends survey reported the steel mills as taking strong stances when it came to negotiating spot pricing on hot […]
Sale of new residential homes jumped 5.2 percent in November to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 592,000, according to the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. The rate is 16.5 percent above the sales rate of 508,000 new homes in November 2015. Median sales price in November was $305,400 […]
Happy Holidays and welcome back to all of you who celebrated Christmas on Sunday or the beginnings of Hanukkah on Saturday evening. Most of the steel industry appears to still be on Holiday and not working through the New Year festivities. So, it was a fairly quiet day in the Steel Market Update offices around […]
Vehicle sales fell slightly to 17.87 million units on a seasonally adjusted annualized basis in November, though this still beat expectations. The strengthening job market is supporting vehicle sales and will continue to do so through next year as an average of 170,000 jobs are estimated to be added per month. On the other side […]
SMU Steel Buyers Sentiment Index has reversed trend and is rising (getting more optimistic) as we prepare to move into the New Year. On Monday of this week Steel Market Update (SMU) began conducting our mid-December flat rolled steel market trends analysis. We completed our inquiries earlier today (Thursday, December 22, 2016) and we are […]
Surplus automotive inventory is causing major auto manufacturers to extend holiday shutdowns into January. General Motors announced yesterday that it will idle five US auto assembly plants in January for periods of one to three weeks in an effort to reduce oversupply of sedans. Ford Motor Company said it will shut operations down at the […]
The Steel Market Update (SMU) Price Momentum Index (MoMo) for hot rolled steel in the United States remained positive for the sixth consecutive week, following a 17 week long negative streak. MoMo is a trailing indicator and shows the relationship between the current U.S. hot rolled coil price movements against the previous 12-week average price as […]
Existing-home sales surged in the Northeast pushing existing home sales to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.61 million from a downward revised 5.57 million in October. The 0.7 percent increase put November’s sales pace at its highest since February 2007 and 15.4 percent higher than November 2015. Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, says it’s […]
The Architecture Billings Index made a small gain in November with a score of 50.6, basically unchanged from October’s reading of 50.8. Any score above 50 indicates an increase in billings for design services. The new projects inquiry index rose to 59.5 from 55.4 in November indicating future growth in construction activity. “Without many details […]
This is our final issue before the Christmas and Chanukah (Hanukkah) Holidays which begin this weekend. We will not publish our regular (Executive) newsletter until next Tuesday, December 27th. We will then publish on Thursday before taking time off to celebrate the New Year. We will publish a Premium supplemental issue in the morning (Friday) […]
Late last week the Metal Service Center Institute (MSCI) released service center shipment and inventories data for the United States and Canada. We published both a general recap and a more complex analysis of the data in Thursday and Sunday issues of SMU. Steel Market Update has a proprietary model that we apply against the […]
A note about the MSCI data and carbon flat rolled inventories. The MSCI reported hot rolled supplies on the floor of the U.S. steel mills as being 2.21 months supply. Cold rolled and coated supplies were under 2.0 months based on MSCI statistics. Cold rolled was reported to be 1.90 months supply and coated at […]
Housing starts retreated in November to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,090,000. The rate is 18.7 percent below the revised October estimate of 1.34 million and 6.9 percent below the November 2015 rate. Sequentially, single family starts fell 4.1 percent and multifamily starts plunged 43.9 percent. On a year over year basis single family […]
If there are going to be price increase announcements prior to the New Year they will most likely be made this week as opposed to next when most of the steel community is taking time off for the Holidays. If they are not made this week then the expectation has to be the first week […]
General Motors announced it will invest $552 million in key U.S. manufacturing facilities in New York and Ohio. The New York manufacturing facilities Tonawanda Engine, Lockport and Rochester will receive a total of $333.66 million. The Parma Metal Center in Ohio is slated for a $218 million investment. “GM remains committed to investing in its […]
The Steel Market Update (SMU) Price Momentum Index (MoMo) for hot rolled steel in the United States remained positive for the fifth consecutive week, following a 17 week long negative streak. MoMo is a trailing indicator and shows the relationship between the current U.S. hot rolled coil price movements against the previous 12-week average price as […]
There are a number of players in the market that are overly concerned (in my opinion) about the restart of the USS Granite City hot strip mill (they are not yet restarting the two idled blast furnaces so they are not adding any new raw steel production into the market) and Mingo Junction (reported to […]
Below is the latest release issued by the the Air-Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute (AHRI) regarding residential and commercial heating and cooling equipment shipments through October 2016. You may read the press release on their website here. Residential Storage Water Heaters U.S. shipments of residential gas storage water heaters for October 2016 decreased 1.9 percent […]
We are hearing from a number of service centers that there have been a couple of mills out there who are not interested in pushing prices again this year. The thought process is split within the steel community to see if the next increase (which the vast majority of the industry believes is coming) will […]