The oil pipeline business has been suffering due to the crash in oil prices but here is something to cheer about for pipeline producers –the beer pipeline. In Bruges, Belgium brew master Xavier Vanneste is about to open the taps to send his beer from the De Halve Maan brewery along a 3 kilometer pipeline […]
We normally reserve Employment articles for our Premium members but felt this would be a good piece to share with our Executive members as well. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported on Friday in their analysis of non-farm employment that 38,000 jobs were added in May, a result so poor and unexpected as to […]
(Mt. Royal, New Jersey, June 6, 2016) – The Association of Women in the Metals Industry (AWMI) is pleased to announce Mary Pollen as 2015 Member of the Year! “It’s really an honor just to be nominated.” said Ms. Pollen. “I know most of the women nominated for this award well. They are all very […]
The US Treasury Secretary told Chinese students at Tsinghua University that excess steel capacity is distorting the world market. The comments came ahead of talks in Beijing between the US and China on trade and security. “Excess capacity is not just a domestic issue in China,” said Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew. “The question of excess […]
(Mt. Royal, New Jersey, June 6, 2016) – The Association of Women in the Metals Industry (AWMI) is pleased to announce Mary Pollen as 2015 Member of the Year. “It’s really an honor just to be nominated.” said Ms. Pollen. “I know most of the women nominated for this award well. They are all very […]
Last week Steel Market Update conducted our early June flat rolled steel market trends analysis. Besides gathering data regarding how buyers and sellers of flat rolled steel feel about their company’s ability to be successful (SMU Steel Buyers Sentiment Index) we also asked questions about pricing, demand, buying patterns, foreign steel, lead times and negotiations. […]
This Key Markets Indicator report is something we produce for our Premium level clients. However, we thought that our Executive level readers would appreciate knowing why we continue to be bullish on the direction of the market based on our analysis of the Key Market Indicators. An explanation of the Key Indicators concept is given […]
According to Baker Hughes data from June 3, 2016, the U.S rig count for the week was 408 rigs exploring for or developing oil or natural gas. This is up 4 rigs compared to last week, with oil rigs up 9 to 325 rigs, gas rigs down 5 to 82 rigs, and miscellaneous rigs unchanged […]
Buyers and sellers of flat rolled steel continue to be optimistic regarding their company’s ability to be successful in both the current market environment as well as looking out three to six months into the future. The SMU Steel Buyers Sentiment Index for Current Sentiment rose +2 points from mid-May at +69. One year ago […]
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 34. Please refer to Table 1 for the view of the present situation and the quantitative measure of trends. Readers should […]
Flat rolled steel mill lead times continue to be extended according to those responding to this week’s steel market trends analysis (lead times are the amount of time it takes for an order placed today until the steel is produced and shipped out of the domestic steel mill). Lead times now average two weeks or […]
Blue is the color of the sky and that may be the limit when it comes to domestic steel mills need to negotiate flat rolled steel pricing. Based on the results from this week’s flat rolled market trends analysis produced by Steel Market Update, steel buyers and sellers are reporting, almost unanimously, that all of […]
The metalforming industry is expecting a slight dip in business conditions in the next three months according to the May 2016 Precision Metalforming Association (PMA) Business Conditions Report. The May report, sampling 114 metalforming companies in the United States and Canada, indicated companies are expecting incoming order levels to remain unchanged during the next few […]
Manufacturing grew for the third straight month according to supply executives surveyed in the ISM Manufacturing Report on Business. The May PMI was 51.3, up 0.5 percent from April. Although the PMI didn’t have a large gain, the three month upward trend is good news since the PMI was in contraction (below 50) from October […]
Global manufacturing appeared stagnant in May, according to the JP Morgan Global Manufacturing PMI. The composite index was at the no change mark of 50.0, nearly the same as April’s reading of 50.1. Production and new orders hovered just above the 50 mark while new export orders fell at one of the fastest rates in […]
The Steel Market Update (SMU) Price Momentum Index (MoMo) for hot rolled steel in the United States indicated prices continue to rise, albeit at a slightly slower pace than what we measured last week. MoMo has been positive (indicating higher prices) for the last 22 weeks, following a 21 week negative streak. MoMo is a trailing […]
SMU Price Momentum continues to reflect the strength of steel mills as we expect prices to continue to rise over the next 30 days. Our Price Momentum Indicator has been pointing toward higher prices since early December 2015 (6 months and counting). Although our Steel Buyers Sentiment Index took a hit in May for both […]
Sources for the following article are the Conference Board and SMU analysis. Please see the end of this piece for an explanation of the indicator. Consumer Confidence declined from 96.1 in March to 94.7 in April and to 92.6 in May. Included below is the official news release from the Conference Board. The three month […]
Figure 1 shows published data for the growth of GDP, industrial production and consumer prices through the first quarter of 2016. The GDP and industrial production portions of this graph are three month moving averages. The growth of GDP was 6.7 percent in the first quarter, down from 6.8 percent in the fourth quarter, and […]
Manufacturing continues to be sluggish in the Midwest according to the latest survey by MNI Indicators. The MNI Chicago Business Barometer dropped back into contraction for a reading of 49.3, the lowest level since February and the sixth time below 50 in the past 12 months. Both new orders and production fell below 50 between […]
According to Baker Hughes data from May 27, 2016, the U.S rig count for the week was 404 rigs exploring for or developing oil or natural gas. This is unchanged compared to last week, with oil rigs down 2 to 316 rigs, gas rigs up 2 to 87 rigs, and miscellaneous rigs unchanged at 1 […]
U.S. flat rolled steel service centers were able to reduce their excess inventories by 222,000 tons, according to our proprietary analysis of the MSCI data released earlier this month. Our Apparent Excess/Deficit model has the distributors carrying a 46,000 ton excess as of the end of April. This is the first time we have seen […]
Both of these data points are reported in the Federal Reserve G17 data base. The index had an all-time high of 106.40 in January 2015 and has had a mixed performance ever since. In 2016 month over month growth has been positive for two months and negative for two month. In April M/M growth on […]
One of the most important indices a steel buyer (or seller) can follow is that of the value of the U.S. dollar vs. the currency of the key steel trading nations. As the dollar value rises or falls, commodities, including steel, tend to be affected. Currency update articles are normally reserved for our Premium Members […]
New orders for durable goods in April increased 3.4 percent to $235.9 billion from March’s upwardly revised figure of 1.9 percent, according to the advance report from the Department of Commerce. Durable goods are manufactured products that are expected to last at least three years. Transportation orders led the increase with a jump of 8.9 […]
The Steel Market Update (SMU) Price Momentum Index (MoMo) for hot rolled steel in the United States indicated prices continue to rise albeit at a slightly slower pace than what we measured last week. MoMo has been positive (indicating higher prices) for the 21st consecutive week, following a 21 week negative streak. MoMo is a trailing […]
Chinese steel trade data was recently released for the month of April 2016, providing updated data on iron ore imports, scrap imports, and flat rolled imports and exports. Chinese imports of iron ore in April were 83,920,000 metric tons, a decrease of 2.2 percent from the previous month but an increase of 4.6 percent from […]
Twice per month Steel Market Update (SMU) conducts our flat rolled steel market trends analysis. During the process we find out how buyers and sellers are feeling about their company’s ability to be successful in the current steel environment (SMU Steel Buyers Sentiment Index) and we probe many other areas of interest to those manufacturing, […]
Steel Market Update was speaking with a trader on the West Coast about the USS/POSCO $150 per ton ($7.50/cwt) price increase announcement made late last week. The expectation is for California Steel Industries (CSI) to open their order books early this week. The trader shared a story about the steel market that existed in 2004 […]
Buyers and sellers of flat rolled steel continue to remain optimistic about their company’s ability to be successful in the current market environment (our Current Sentiment Index). On a single data point our Current Sentiment Index was down -1 point from the beginning of May. However, we prefer to use the three month moving average […]