According to Baker Hughes data from May 5, 2017, the US rig count for the week was 877 rigs exploring for or developing oil or natural gas. This is up 7 rigs compared to last week, with oil rigs up 6 to 703 rigs, gas rigs up 2 to 173 rigs, and miscellaneous rigs down […]
Twice per month, Steel Market Update (SMU) conducts a review of how buyers and sellers of flat rolled steel feel about their company’s ability to be successful in the existing market (Current Sentiment) as well as three to six months out (Future Sentiment). Earlier today we crunched the data and found the flat rolled steel […]
Flat rolled steel lead times are running essentially flat (same as what we have been reporting over the past few weeks) based on the responses we received from manufacturing companies and service centers this week. Lead time is the amount of time it takes a domestic steel mill to produce a new order if placed […]
Steel Market Update (SMU) has been conducting one of our flat rolled steel market trends surveys this week. According to those responding to our questionnaire, steel mill resistance to holding firm on flat rolled steel spot prices is in free fall. A very large portion of our respondents reported mills as willing to negotiate on […]
The Steel Market Update Steel Price Momentum Index (MoMo) for hot rolled steel in the United States remained negative this week for the second consecutive week, following an eight week streak of being in positive territory. MoMo is a trailing indicator and shows the relationship between the current U.S. hot rolled coil price movements against the […]
Please see the end of this report for an explanation of data sources. The Broad Index value of the US $ is reported several days in arrears by the Federal Reserve, the latest value published was dated April 14th (Figure 1). The dollar had a recent peak of 128.963 on January 3rd which was the […]
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. We now have two […]
The source of this data is the Conference Board with analysis by Steel Market Update. Please see the end of this piece for an explanation of the indicator. Consumer Confidence decreased 4.6 points in April, falling to 120.3 but this is still the second highest reading since December 2000. The three month moving average (3MMA […]
The headline report of GDP growth in Q1 came in at 0.7 percent a decline from 3.53 percent in the third quarter and 2.08 percent in Q4 2016. Economy.com had this to say about first quarter tendencies. “The first quarter can be full of surprises; during this expansion, first quarter GDP growth has come in […]
Steel Market Update is a member of an association connected to the construction industry called HARDI. HARDI stands for Heating, Air-conditioning & Refrigeration Distributors International. HARDI and The Institute for Trend Research (ITR), an economic forecasting company, work together to gather economic data to provide a forecast to the HARDI members located in the United […]
The JP Morgan Global Manufacturing PMI dipped slightly to 52.8 in April from 53.0 in March. The PMI has shown expansion (above the 50 no-change mark) for 14 months. Manufacturing conditions slowed in the U.S. but was offset by acceleration in Europe, Japan and the United Kingdom. China expanded at its weakest rate in seven […]
The April 2017 ISM Report on Business showed economic activity in the manufacturing sector expanding for the eighth consecutive month. The PMI registered 54.8, dropping 2.4 points from March as new orders slowed. The PMI has averaged 56.4 since the beginning of the year. New orders decreased 7 points to 57.5 percent. New export orders […]
For a number of weeks now (?) Steel Market Update has had our Price Momentum Indicator pointing toward Neutral as opposed to Higher or Lower. Over the past couple of weeks flat rolled prices have been coming off their highs and yet SMU continues to keep our Price Momentum Indicator at Neutral. What gives? Why […]
Steel Market Update is a member of an association connected to the construction industry called HARDI. HARDI stands for Heating, Air-conditioning & Refrigeration Distributors International. HARDI and The Institute for Trend Research (ITR), an economic forecasting company, work together to gather economic data to provide a forecast to the HARDI members located in the United […]
The month of April began with SMU Price Momentum Indicator pointing toward higher prices and by the second week of the month we had moved our Indicator to Neutral which is where it is now as the month ends. Our 3MMA for the SMU Steel Buyers Sentiment Index appears to be peaking at +74. The […]
The Chicago Business Barometer in April reached its highest level since January 2015, posting a score of 58.3 from 57.7 in March. Growing demand for manufactured products pushed new orders up 5.5 points to a near three-year high. The production index in April was at another high level although receding slightly to 59.5 from 61.7. […]
According to Baker Hughes data from April 28, 2017, the US rig count for the week was 870 rigs exploring for or developing oil or natural gas. This is up 13 rigs compared to last week, with oil rigs up 9 to 697 rigs, gas rigs up 4 to 171 rigs, and miscellaneous rigs unchanged […]
The Tenth District joins the Dallas and Richmond Federal Reserves in reporting slower manufacturing activity in the region. The Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City in its April Manufacturing Survey reported its month-over-month composite index was 7 in April, after readings of 20 in March and 14 in February. Most of the indexes that make […]
Members of the Precision Metalforming Association are anticipating a slight downturn in business conditions during the next three months, according to the latest PMA Business Conditions Report. The April report sampled 120 metalforming companies in the U.S. and Canada and showed 45 percent of participants expecting improvement in general activity in the near future compared […]
Durable goods orders rose to a lower rate in March than expected. New orders rose 0.7 percent to $238.7 billion, well under the Bloomberg forecast of 1.3 percent. Orders for core capital goods (non-military capital goods minus aircraft that are used in GDP calculation) rose 0.2 percent, less than the 0.5 percent predicted. Automotive vehicles […]
The Steel Market Update Steel Price Momentum Index (MoMo) for hot rolled steel in the United States turned negative this week after being in positive territory for the previous eight weeks. 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 […]
Both manufacturing companies and service centers are reporting distributor spot prices as being in a state of transition. The percentage of manufacturing companies reporting service centers as raising spot flat rolled steel prices has dropped from 50 percent at the beginning of April to 19 percent. At the same time 19 percent of the manufacturing […]
This report summarized seven data sources that describe the state of manufacturing in the US. We have reported on most of these separately in our Steel Market Update publications therefore will be brief in this summary. We don’t expect these data sources to all point in the same direction but our intention in summarizing them […]
Two important Federal Reserve reports on manufacturing came out this week from Dallas and Richmond. The Dallas Federal Reserve reports that growth in the manufacturing sector continued for the tenth consecutive month but at a slower pace in April. The production index of the Texas Manufacturing Outlook Survey dipped three points to 15.4. New orders […]
Once each quarter we publish the official statistics for Chinese GDP, industrial production, consumer price inflation and fixed asset investment. Currently available data is through the first quarter except for CPI which is through February. Many analysts don’t believe these Party self-serving figures but we include them in our reports because of the importance of […]
The states compile their employment numbers independently of the Feds, and then both are reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The results are close. In the last seventeen quarters since Q1 2013, the Feds reported total job creation of 10,794,000 and the states reported 10,959,000 a difference of only 0.15 percent. Part of this […]
Last week, Steel Market Update (SMU) conducted our mid-April flat rolled steel market trends analysis. Over the course of the week we invited 670 individuals representing approximately 650 companies to participate in our survey. The breakout of the participants was a little different than what we have been seeing over the course of a number […]
According to Baker Hughes data from April 21, 2017, the US rig count for the week was 857 rigs exploring for or developing oil or natural gas. This is up 10 rigs compared to last week, with oil rigs up 5 to 688 rigs, gas rigs up 5 to 167 rigs, and miscellaneous rigs unchanged […]
There have been a slew of Executive Orders coming out of the Trump White House aimed at impacting manufacturing and the steel industry. The “Buy American, Hire American” order is just one of the orders from last week that the manufacturing and steel industry need to watch and understand the potential impacts to your company. […]
Miami – April 20, 2017 – Optima Specialty Steel, Inc. (together with its subsidiaries, collectively the “Company” or “OSS”) today announced that it has entered into a Plan Support Agreement (the “Agreement”) with Optima Acquisitions, LLC (“OA”), the sole shareholder of OSS. The Agreement contemplates that the Company will emerge from Chapter 11 by the […]