Each month the Commerce Department issues its Construction Put in Place (CPIP) data, usually on the first working day covering activity two months earlier. July data was released on Tuesday September 1st. Construction Put in Place is based on spending work as it occurs, estimated for a given month from a sample of projects. In […]
Sentiment amongst most steel buyers is that the mills (USS & ArcelorMittal USA) will not lockout the union workers. It appears there is a bit of a stalemate right now as the mills feel they need to get something from the union and the union workers believe that what they have they earned and cannot […]
I continue to receive positive comments regarding last week’s Steel Summit Conference. What is especially gratifying is the number of speakers who have come back with comments as to how much they enjoyed the conference, the quality of the speakers and the interest of the attendees. Many of our speakers stayed for the entire conference, […]
Buyers and sellers of flat rolled steel continue to remain optimistic about their company’s ability to be successful in the current market conditions. However, we have seen a weakening of that position especially when we look at the numbers based on a 3-month moving average. The SMU Steel Buyers Sentiment Index measures how flat rolled […]
Domestic steel mill lead times continued to be relatively short based on the consolidated results of our most recent flat rolled steel market analysis just completed earlier today. It is our opinion the short lead times are influencing negotiations and most likely explain the weakness we saw in our flat rolled prices that were just […]
Steel mills in the United States are more willing to negotiate flat rolled steel prices on essentially all products than they have been over the past three or four months. This statement is based on the results of our most recent flat rolled steel market analysis which was just completed earlier today. Ninety-seven percent of […]
We had a great conference! Don’t take my word for it, go out and talk to the hundreds of people who attended this year and ask their opinion. We are well on the way to making this conference THE Steel Summit Conference of the year for those who are actively involved in the steel industry. […]
It’s been a long day for myself and my SMU team as we host our 5th Steel Summit Conference. The day began early for us with wake up calls around 5 AM after working most of the night on final presentation slides and networking with our attendees at the Marriott hotel where we are staying. […]
An explanation of the Key Indicators concept is given at the end of this piece for those readers who are unfamiliar with it. The total number of indicators considered in this analysis is currently 36. Please refer to Table 1 for the view of the present situation and the quantitative measure of trends. Readers should […]
Our Steel Buyers Sentiment Index dropped for the second month in a row, however, our 3-month-moving-average rose slightly. Our Sentiment Index has been trailing what we reported during 2014 as business growth has been tempered this year versus last. Flat rolled steel prices dropped slightly from the end of last month through the end of […]
I was reminded by an incident that recently happened to me outside of the steel industry that the hardest lesson for a salesperson to learn is humility. Most salespeople work very hard and understand that they exist within a very competitive industry. There are other salespeople out there competing for the same business and pitching […]
It’s showtime! Our 5th SMU Steel Summit Conference is locked, loaded and ready to go. We move into the sold out Marriott Gateway Hotel early tomorrow (Monday) afternoon where we will begin registration at 4 PM until 6 PM. We anticipate the bar area will be full of steel people on Monday evening so come […]
United Auto Workers negotiations are nearing the contract expiration date of Sept. 14. The biggest issue this year is closing the gap in the two-tier wage structure at Detroit’s Big Three automakers. The two-tier system was established in 2007 to help auto manufacturers remain competitive with foreign counterparts. Tier 1, or legacy workers earn about […]
The Steel Market Update (SMU) Price MoMo Index for hot rolled steel in the United States was negative (indicating lower prices) for the third consecutive week. MoMo, a trailing indicator, is measured as a percentage and shows the relation of the current U.S. hot rolled coil (HRC) price movements against the previous 12-week average spot price […]
We are in the “home stretch” as our 5th Steel Summit Conference is just over the horizon. We continue to work on the finishing touches, checking to make sure we have all the speaker presentations (a number of them are waiting until the last minute so the presentation is in sync with world and domestic […]
The flat rolled steel market appears to be in a wait and see mode. Flat rolled steel prices continue to be stable to slightly weaker than what we saw a few weeks ago. Nothing dramatic is moving market momentum in one direction or another. Here is how we are seeing the market at this time: […]
Our office is overwhelmed with the response we have had to our 5th Steel Summit Conference which is only our 2nd two day conference. As of this afternoon we had 272 people registered. The facility we have can comfortably seat 292 people… We will have a full house. Thank you. For those coming to the […]
Steel Market Update (SMU) produces for our Premium level members a number of articles/analysis related to the Metal Service Center Institute (MSCI) data which is released on a monthly basis. One of the articles is our Service Center Inventories Apparent Excess/Deficit analysis. Our Apparent Excess/Deficit is the number of tons either over or under what […]
Following the exceptional rate of vehicle sales in the US in May the June rate fell from 17.8 million annualized to 17.2 million then bounced back to 17.5 million in July. This was the second best month of the year. Light trucks continued to pull ahead of automobiles. In July LT sales which includes crossovers […]
We are now one week away from our 5th Steel Summit Conference. As I have mentioned before, we will set a new record for attendance this year, potentially breaking last year’s record by 80 to 100 people. Our Steel Summit Conference continues to get accolades from those in the industry for the quality of our […]
The people who buy and sell flat rolled steel for a living continue to be optimistic about their company’s ability to be successful both now and three to six months into the future. However, the year over year weakening (or less optimistic) trend that we have seen for most, if not all of this calendar […]
Lead times for hot rolled, cold rolled, galvanized and Galvalume steels continue to remain moderately short at most of the domestic steel mills according to the results of this week’s flat rolled steel market analysis. Hot rolled lead times averaged 3.38 weeks which is essentially unchanged over the past month and below the 4 week […]
Based on the results of our latest flat rolled steel market analysis (survey) the U.S. and Canadian steel mills continue to be willing to negotiate prices of hot rolled, cold rolled, galvanized and Galvalume steels. Benchmark hot rolled, which has been hit especially hard by the drought in orders from the energy markets, had 80 […]
Steel Market Update (SMU) conducted our mid-August flat rolled steel market review this week. We received our final responses this afternoon and we are ready to report on a number of the subjects covered this week. Buyers and sellers of steel are of the opinion that the trade suits on hot rolled, cold rolled and […]
Existing home sales increased for the third consecutive month in July. The seasonally adjusted annual rate for July was at 5.59 million, up 2 percent from a downwardly revised 5.48 million in June. Sales were at their highest pace since February 2007, said the National Association of Realtors, but first time buyer sales dropped to […]
The Steel Market Update (SMU) Price MoMo Index for hot rolled steel in the United States has now dropped down into negative territory after bouncing around zero percent for the last four weeks. MoMo, a trailing indicator, is measured as a percentage and shows the relation of the current U.S. hot rolled coil (HRC) price […]
You may have noticed that I haven’t been pushing the Steel Summit Conference quite as much as in the past. This is due to the fact that we are coming close to filling the space allotted. We are expecting a full house and a tremendous program. If you would like to attend we have not […]
Sales of new single-family houses in June 2015 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 482,000, according to estimates released jointly by the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. This is 6.8 percent below the revised May rate of 517,000, but is 18.1 percent above the June 2014 estimate […]
It was very sad to hear of the passing of John Correnti earlier today. Mr. Correnti at 68 years old still had much to give to the steel industry and his Big River Steel mill will only be but one part of his legacy. The steel industry is buzzing on the news and I have […]
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 June 2015. You may read the press release on their website here. Residential Storage Water Heaters U.S. shipments of residential gas storage water heaters for June 2015 increased 17.9 percent, […]