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 […]
The Steel Market Update (SMU) Steel Buyers Sentiment Index continues at very optimistic levels for those involved in the flat rolled steel industry in the United States and Canada. At the same time, our index is no longer making new high’s either as a single data point or on our three-month moving average (3MMA). SMU […]
Over the course of the last four days Steel Market Update (SMU) has been conducting our mid-April flat rolled steel market trends analysis. We finished earlier this afternoon and we are providing the results of some of our findings to our readers this evening. Lead times, which is the length of time it takes to […]
Buyers and sellers of flat rolled steel associated with manufacturing companies and service centers are reporting the steel mills as being more willing to negotiate flat rolled steel spot prices. Based on the responses from those taking our survey, 59 percent reported the domestic steel mills as willing to negotiate hot rolled prices, 76 percent […]
Washington, D.C. – April 19, 2017 – The first quarter of the year ended on a positive note for the Architecture Billings Index (ABI). As a leading economic indicator of construction activity, the ABI reflects the approximate nine to twelve month lead time between architecture billings and construction spending. The American Institute of Architects (AIA) […]
We include here an unabridged statement from the IMF that was released on Thursday this week which forecasts economic growth for all regions and nations through 2022. The IMF raised its forecast for economic growth in the US in 2017 from 2.2 percent in the October forecast to 2.307 percent and in 2018 from 2.08 […]
The following service center inventories data is based on the assumption that the MSCI data as presented is accurate on carbon flat rolled. From the MSCI data we apply a proprietary formula/model from which we can determine if flat rolled distributors are in an over-inventoried (excess) or under-inventories (deficit) situation. The importance of understanding the […]
The Steel Market Update Steel Price Momentum Index (MoMo) for hot rolled steel in the United States remained in positive territory for the eighth consecutive week after briefly dipping into negative territory for a single week. MoMo is a trailing indicator and shows the relationship between the current U.S. hot rolled coil price movements against the […]
The prices of oil and natural gas drive the consumption of oil country tubular goods (OCTG) and related steel products. The energy markets represent a large portion of the hot rolled coil used to make welded tubular goods as well as equipment used to drill and pump oil and natural gas. Figure 1 shows historical […]
Manufacturing activity cooled in New York State in April after two exceptionally strong months. The general business index of the Empire State Manufacturing Survey fell eleven points to register 5.2. The new orders index dropped fourteen points to register 7.0, settling at a more sustainable level of growth. Shipments continued to increase at a moderate […]
This report summarizes total steel supply from 2003 through February 2017 and year on year changes. It then compares domestic mill shipments with total supply to the market. It quantifies market direction by product and enables a side by side comparison of the degree to which imports have absorbed demand. Sources are the American Iron […]
The Steel Market Update Steel Price Momentum Index (MoMo) for hot rolled steel in the United States remained in positive territory for the seventh consecutive week after briefly dipping into negative territory for a single week. MoMo is a trailing indicator and shows the relationship between the current U.S. hot rolled coil price movements against the […]
On Friday Steel Market Update (SMU) adjusted our flat rolled steel Price Momentum Indicator to Neutral from Higher. The key reason behind our decision to move our indicator is “indecision” in the marketplace. More about that in a moment. The current market cycle began on October 21, 2016 when the domestic mills were able to […]
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) employment report released Friday was another example of why we should not be fixated on a single month’s result. Month on month this was a dismal report with a net increase of only 98,000 jobs, well below analyst’s expectations. To make matters worse, January and February were revised down […]
According to Baker Hughes data from April 7, 2017, the US rig count for the week was 839 rigs exploring for or developing oil or natural gas. This is up 15 rigs compared to last week, with oil rigs up 10 to 672 rigs, gas rigs up 5 to 165 rigs, and miscellaneous rigs unchanged […]
Steel Market Update is reporting today a new record high was achieved in our Current Steel Buyers Sentiment Index 3-month moving average (3MMA). Buyers and sellers of flat rolled steel continue to be very optimistic about their company’s ability to be successful in the existing market environment. As a single data point, Sentiment was measured […]