The S&P/Case-Shiller Index reported existing home prices accelerated in August as indicated by a 12.8 percent year-over-year increase and 1.3 percent monthly increase. Both the 10-city and 20-city composites were at their highest annual increase since February 2006. “The monthly percentage changes for the 20-City composite show the peak rate of gain in home prices […]
About a week ago, one of my long-time readers sent me an email asking me to tell my readers what I really think about things. That has always been the intention of my Final Thoughts segment. This is the area where I voice my opinions on subjects and entertain comments from my readers. I hope […]
Residential Storage Water Heaters U.S. shipments of residential gas storage water heaters for August 2013 increased 22.7 percent, to 335,909 units, up from 273,759 units shipped in August 2012. Residential electric storage water heater shipments increased 16.6 percent in August 2013, to 326,805 units, up from 280,177 units shipped in August 2012. For the year-to-date, […]
The testing of the new Steel Market Update website continues. We are probably 90 percent through the process and have a few projects which still need to be completed before we can bring the site up live for you to (hopefully) enjoy. We anticipate once we launch the site we will still have a few […]
Ford Motor produced about 1.5 million units during the 3rd Quarter. This was 187,000 more vehicles than they produced during the 3rd Quarter 2012. In the 4th Quarter total production will be 1.6 million units which is 102,000 units higher than a year ago. However, this includes a reduction of 15,000 units from the company’s […]
Caterpillar Inc. third quarter sales and revenues dropped to $13.423 billion from $16.445 billion in the third quarter of 2012. As a result, Caterpillar has revised its 2013 outlook downward and now expects sales and revenue of about $55 billion from the previous range of $56 to $58 billion. “This year has proven to […]
As John Temples mentioned in an article above, we are being forced to be a tad more protective of the information we are delivering to our members. SMU has invested heavily in our new website – both in our time and money. This was done so that we could continue to grow – add new […]
The Steel Market Update Price MoMo Index for flat rolled steel in the U.S. remained positive this week for the 2nd week in a row after 4 consecutive weeks of being in negative territory. MoMo, a trailing indicator, is based upon the current hot rolled coil price weighed against the previous 12-week average spot price […]
The early forecast is for scrap prices to increase by $20 per gross ton in early November. If this happens it could help keep domestic mill prices at current levels (or slightly higher). It could also prompt the domestic mills to ask for another price increase. Longer term the analysts believe domestic scrap prices will […]
On August 23rd Steel Market Update adjusted our Price Momentum Indicator from Higher to Neutral. Since that time benchmark hot rolled prices have been within $5 per ton (+/-) of $640 per ton until this past week when prices rose by $15 per ton. Essentially, we began capturing transactions and offers related to the price […]
For the past four plus months, Steel Market Update has been producing our newsletter(s) on two websites at the same time. Considering our company has a relatively small number of full time employees this has not been an easy task. Besides me – Brett Linton, Sandy Williams, Peter Wright, John Temples as well as Ryan […]
In our recent steel market survey which we conducted this past week, 56.4 percent of those responding to our questions (all respondents) told us the current contract negotiations on their 2014 flat rolled steel needs represented a “game changer” for the U.S. steel industry. Manufacturers We asked manufacturing companies if their contract negotiations included reduction […]
The Steel Market Update Price MoMo Index for flat rolled steel in the U.S. turned positive this week after 4 consecutive weeks in negative territory. MoMo, a trailing indicator, is based upon the current hot rolled coil price weighed against the previous 12-week average spot price as recorded by Steel Market Update. MoMo was measured […]
We are in the “final” testing of our new website. Unless we have another setback in the coming days we should be able to bring the site up within the next week to 10 days. Give us a few more days to make sure the subscription system is working properly and then we will need […]
Domestic mill lead times, which had been relatively flat since the beginning of September according to past SMU steel market surveys, are beginning to indicate a modest strengthening. Our survey respondents put hot rolled lead times at 4.07 weeks (last year in mid-October they were 2.93 weeks) which is up slightly from the 3.94 weeks […]
Based on responses from the Steel Market Update (SMU) mid-October steel market survey, SMU Steel Buyers Sentiment Index is +38 and is considered to represent an optimistic view of the industry by those buying and selling flat rolled steel products. The latest reading is up one point over our early October measurement but is one […]
Automotive production, sales and inventory in NAFTA through September 2013 Based on Ward’s automotive reports, total light vehicle, (LV) production was 1,390,175 units in September, down by 3.3 percent from August. Autos were down by 5.1 percent and light trucks by 1.8 percent. A better measure of direction is the three month rolling average of […]
Steel Market Update saw a letter from Majestic Steel to their customers publically announcing a price increase. Majestic, which is well known as a supplier of coated products to the HVAC and construction industries, told their customers that the price increase is due to cold rolled base prices reaching as high as $39.50/cwt and $40.50/cwt […]
A note from one of my long-time readers, “You need to get more controversial in your final thoughts. Tell us what you think.” I have taken a relatively low profile (although some might disagree) regarding my opinions on mill price negotiations – both contract and spot. So the way I will respond to my long-time […]
We are back in our offices, life is back to normal after traveling over the past four days to Arkansas and our website due date keeps on getting pushed back… Frustration is running high at SMU these days. The developers haven’t given us a firm promise date but it is beginning to look like November […]
The Steel Market Update Price MoMo Index for flat rolled steel in the U.S. remained negative this week for the 4th week after 15 consecutive weeks in positive territory. MoMo, a trailing indicator, is based upon the current hot rolled coil price weighed against the previous 12-week average spot price as recorded by Steel Market […]
The weather in Arkansas couldn’t have been more perfect. We had temperatures in the low 70’s with a cool breeze and sunny. A perfect day to go on a mill tour. I want to take a moment to thank all of the employees at Nucor Steel Arkansas for hosting Steel Market Update and our Steel […]
The partial federal government shutdown prevented the Bureau of Labor Statistics from publishing the September data which was scheduled for last Friday. We have therefore decided to take a more in depth look at manufacturing and construction employment through August. The graph below shows the change in total employment for these two sectors since January […]
I am in Blytheville, Arkansas making final preparations for our Steel 101: Introduction to Steelmaking & Market Fundamentals workshop. We have a full class which will tour the Nucor Hickman facility on Tuesday afternoon. We will send out a complimentary issue of our latest Monthly Newsletter on Monday. Once our new website comes online we […]
The Commerce Department data for construction expenditures in August should have been released on October 1st but due to the government shutdown is not available. We therefore decided to use our existing data and to take a more detailed look at non residential construction which is by far the largest sector of total construction expenditures. […]
A quick note about ferrous scrap. From the early deals being done – and there are still a number yet which need to be completed. Our sources are advising us that scrap prices have been trading lower by $5 to $10 per gross ton in the east. However, in the Midwest there have been trades […]
Based on our survey results, hot rolled and cold rolled lead times barely moved compared to two weeks ago. Galvanized lead times shrunk slightly from 6.00 weeks to 5.84 and Galvalume lead times dropped from 6.80 weeks to 6.33 weeks. The current lead times are longer than they were one year ago on all products […]
For the past three days, Steel Market Update has been canvassing those attending the Metalcon show in downtown Atlanta. We spoke with manufacturers associated with the metal building, architectural panel and various construction products as well as their service center, steel mill, trading company, paint and toll processors. We heard mixed results regarding 2013 versus […]
In spite of the federal government’s decision to shut down, those involved in the flat rolled steel industry continue to remain optimistic about their company’s ability to be successful in both the current environment as well as 3-6 months into the future. Steel Market Update (SMU) just completed our beginning of October flat rolled steel […]
US auto sales slipped to 1.14 million new vehicles compared to 1.19 million in the same month last year. It was the first time sales failed to increase on a month-over-month basis in 27 months. Sales at a seasonally adjusted annual rate were 15.4 million–still strong enough to show a 37th consecutive increase on a […]