Business activity was flat for New York manufacturers in April according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s Empire State Manufacturing Survey. The main index for general business conditions fell four points to 1.3. New orders declined slightly in April while the shipments index showed little change. The unfilled orders index was negative at […]
The Broad Index value of the US Dollar has been gradually increasing for 18 months (Figure 1) which tends of raise imports to the US and depress exports. The broad index is a weighted average of the foreign exchange values of the U.S. Dollar against the currencies of a large group of major U.S. trading […]
The following article is one that we would normally just provide to our Premium Level members. We thought that those who have Executive level members would be interested in some of the detail we are providing our Premium Level members. If you have questions about Premium Level membership please feel free to contact our offices: […]
Steel Market Update (SMU) has been producing our Steel Buyers Basics series off and on since we officially started the company in August 2008. The purpose of this series of articles was to provide educational materials and articles to the flat rolled steel industry in the hopes that those reading our material who start to […]
Bank of America Merrill Lynch gave their quarterly global steel outlook on April 8. BofAML predicts demand for finished steel in China will grow 4.4 percent in 2014. Chinese crude steel production is expected to increase 4.6 to 815 million tons. The outlook is for a trend of slowing but positive growth. Despite mill closings […]
Seaborne freight rates are in a valley trough right now according to the April 9 MID-SHIP Report. Freight prices dropped dramatically in all segments of the Baltic market as oversupply of ships caught up with diminished demand, exacerbated by extreme winter weather this year. Other pressure to rates included China turning away shipments of US […]
The Steel Market Update Price MoMo Index for flat rolled steel in the U.S turned positive this week after being in negative territory for the prior 10 weeks. MoMo, a trailing indicator, is measured as a percentage and shows the relation of the current hot rolled coil (HRC) price movements against the previous 12-week average […]
Every year the metals industry in the Chicago area produces a fund-raiser for the Boy Scouts of America. As the years have gone by, the dinner has become one of the premium networking opportunities for those associated in the steel and non-ferrous metals industries. We have heard this year’s event, which will be held at […]
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) report on non-farm employment came close to expectations in March with a net gain of 192,000 jobs. In addition January and February were revised up by 15,000 and 22,000 respectively. The three month moving average, (3MMA) rose to 178,000 after declining for three straight months (Figure 1). The growth […]
The following article is a continuation of our Steel Buyers Basics series and is written by Mario Briccetti. Mario is Principal of Briccetti & Associates, a Supply Chain consulting firm, and can be reached at Mario@mbriccetti.com In an earlier article I noted that the steel business is often subject to interruptions in supply and described […]
The following is a press release of TranSystems: The TranSystems Transportation Activity Index report for March was released this week, and we saw a flat trend between February and March, but a strong surge over March of last year. The composite reading across all transportation modes came in again at 59.2, flat against February of […]
Steel Market Update received the following “Letter to the Editor” from the West Coast: Here is my view of the flat rolled market. Just my opinion of the state of the industry. You may or may not agree but these are points I think customers should carefully consider: We are seeing a long term shift […]
The situation at US Steel Great Lakes, and now Gary Works, has not bridled the enthusiasm which has been growing within the flat rolled steel markets. We are seeing buyers and sellers of flat rolled steel continuing to be optimistic about their company’s ability to be successful in both today’s market as well as three […]
Mill lead times moved out over the past two weeks. We are seeing lead times extending by as much as one week on hot rolled and cold rolled and three quarters of a week on galvanized. We did some quick checking and HRC, CRC and GI lead times are the furthest we have recorded since […]
Buyers and sellers of flat rolled steel are reporting the domestic steel mills as much less willing to negotiate prices this week as compared to two weeks ago. Our market analysis saw major contraction in each of the products with hot rolled moving from 85 percent down to 48 percent. Cold rolled halved their previous […]
The month of March proved to be an interesting month for the flat rolled steel industry and related commodities associated with the industry, both within North America and around the world. The biggest news was the move by the domestic mills to raise flat rolled steel prices. ArcelorMittal led the way on March 17th when […]
Every month we track a number of the other steel indexes including the two used the most for contract adjustments: CRU and Platts. We had some interesting results as the month of March closed as all of the indices showed declines (compared to the end of the prior month) in hot rolled, cold rolled, galvanized […]
The Steel Market Update Price MoMo Index for flat rolled steel in the U.S remained slightly negative this week for the 10th consecutive week after being in positive territory for the prior 15 weeks. MoMo, a trailing indicator, is measured as a percentage and shows the relation of the current hot rolled coil (HRC) price […]
The JP Morgan Global Manufacturing PMI was at a five month low in March registering 52.4, down from 53.2 in February. The index has indicated expansion for sixteen months with March’s reading above its average for the period. All components of the Global Manufacturing PMI remained in growth territory for the month with expansion slowing […]
The Institute of Supply Management report was issued today by Bradley J. Holcomb, CPSM, CPSD, chair of the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) Manufacturing Business Survey Committee. “The March PMI registered 53.7 percent, an increase of 0.5 percentage point from February’s reading of 53.2 percent, indicating expansion in manufacturing for the 10th consecutive month. The […]
The March Chicago Business Barometer slid to its lowest level since August, down 3.9 points to 55.9. The Barometer averaged 58.4 during the first quarter of 2014 indicating recovery but was down from the 2.5 year high of 63.3 in Q4 2013. First quarter results were likely impacted by the harsh weather during the quarter. […]
The Steel Market Update Price MoMo Index for flat rolled steel in the U.S remained negative this week for the 9th consecutive week after being in positive territory for the prior 15 weeks. MoMo, a trailing indicator, is measured as a percentage and shows the relation of the current hot rolled coil (HRC) price movements […]
Flat rolled steel pricing momentum reversed course due to the price increase announcement led by ArcelorMittal and followed by virtually all of the domestic and Canadian steel mills. We moved the SMU Price Momentum Indicator first to Neutral and then a week later to Higher in response to the increase announcements and the fact that […]
New residential sales of single-family homes dropped in February to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 440,000 according to estimates by the Commerce Department. Sales were 3.3 percent below the revised January rate of 455,000 and 1.1 percent below the February 2013 estimate of 445,000. Inventory was still tight at 189,000, a 5.2 month supply. […]
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 at present is thirty five, a decrease of one as the Chicago Fed Mid-West Manufacturing Index has been put on hold until late April to enable […]
Barge shipping is beginning to accelerate as winter ice melts on US waterways. The MID-SHIP Report says navigation has resumed on the Illinois River and the middle section of the Upper Mississippi, north to Clinton, Iowa. The Upper Mississippi is still ice covered and chunks of ice on both rivers are slowing barge transit. The […]
The best pre-painted steel coating system (for color retention) is made of Polyvinyl Difluoride (PVDF) and is sold under the trade names of Kynar 500 and Hylar 5000 (people typically call this paint Kynar). A buyer should know that this type of paint system comes with several high-end options that I am going to touch […]
The American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) today lauded the decision by the World Trade Organization (WTO) to side with the U.S. on a challenge to China’s export restrictions on rare earth elements, tungsten and molybdenum. Rare earths and other products are used in smartphones, automobiles, the defense industry, and wind turbines and are mined […]
Durable goods orders increased in February continuing the healthy trend that has existed since the recession (Figure 1). However the three month moving average (3MMA) declined as November’s above trend result was dropped from the calculation (Figure 2). The year over year growth rate of the 3MMA has progressively declined from 7.9 percent in November […]
The Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) released their third estimate of real GDP today, (March 27th) for Q4 2013. The third is normally the final estimate though there sometimes are revisions further back in time. GDP rose in the fourth quarter by 2.6 percent at a seasonally adjusted annual rate, this was an upward revision […]