This week the Steel Market Update Price MoMo Index for flat rolled steel in the U.S. is showing hot rolled coil price momentum continuing its downward trend for the 28th week in a row (6+ months!). MoMo, a trailing indicator, is measured as a percentage and shows the relation of the current hot rolled coil […]
Steel buyers in the February ISM Steel Buyers Survey appeared confused about what the future may hold. There was no consensus on what the trend for general economic activity will be in the next six months. Respondents were split evenly on whether activity would be up, the same or down. This contrasted with January in […]
The Institute of Supply Management released their February report on March 2nd. An explanation of this data set is given at the end of this piece. After the October surprise on the upside, the index slid back to 55.1 in December to 53.5 in January and to 52.9 in February. The three month moving average […]
Twenty-seven months of consecutive global manufacturing growth was marked by the JP Morgan Global PMI in February. The headline index rose to 52.0 from 51.7 in January. The United States continued to be the prime driver of global growth with the Markit U.S. PMI increasing to 55.1 from 53.9 in January. Mexico showed strong growth […]
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 36. Please refer to Table 1 for the view of the present situation and the quantitative measure of trends. Readers should […]
The monthly value of the Federal Reserve Broad Index value of the US $ against our major trading partners has continued to strengthen and in January reached 92.44 after breaking 90 in December for the first time since July 2009. The monthly BI is a “Real” inflation adjusted index. The Fed also reports a daily […]
February and its 20 shipping days is now behind us. It is time to take a look at how the data for the month played out. SMU Price Momentum Indicator ended the month just as it had begun the month (as well as the New Year), pointing toward lower flat rolled steel prices in the […]
The Chicago Business Barometer fell to a five and one-half year low in February. The MNI Indicators survey of purchasing and supply professionals plunged 13.6 points to 45.8 in February. It was the first contraction of the Barometer since April 2013 and the lowest level since July 2009. The West Coast port slowdown and frigid […]
The Consumer Confidence Index as reported by the Conference Board declined in February after a very strong increase in January. In addition, the January results were revised upwards. In February the composite fell from 103.8 to 96.4, the view of the present situation fell from 113.9 to 110.2 as expectations fell from 97.0 to 87.2. […]
This week the Steel Market Update Price MoMo Index for flat rolled steel in the U.S. is showing hot rolled coil price momentum continuing its downward trend for the 27th week in a row (6+ months!). MoMo, a trailing indicator, is measured as a percentage and shows the relation of the current hot rolled coil […]
Each month the Bureau of Labor Statistics, (BLS) puts out its series of producer price indexes, for thousands of goods and materials. For an explanation of this program see the end of this piece. The latest release last Wednesday reported January results. We run this analysis every three months to give readers an opportunity to […]
Based on the most recent flat rolled steel market survey results, steel mill lead times stabilized this past week after having declined almost non-stop since August 2014. The question now is will the mill lead times begin to move out from here or remain stuck at these less than desirable levels (from a mill perspective […]
Lead times may be showing signs of reaching a bottom (too early to tell if only a dead cat bounce) but there is no question that the steel mills are willing to negotiate pricing on all flat rolled products. We have been hearing it from the flat rolled steel buyers and executives as we speak […]
Twice per month Steel Market Update conducts our flat rolled steel market analysis. We invite slightly more than 600 qualified companies to participate in our questionnaire which consist of questions about demand, inventories, foreign imports, pricing, sentiment, service center pricing and more. We have been compiling information since late 2008 (SMU began as an official […]
The PMA and ILWU released a joint statement Friday evening that a tentative agreement has been reached on a new five year contract covering port workers on the West Coast. After nine months of trading blame for slowdowns and congestion at the ports, the White House sent Labor Secretary Tom Perez to hammer out an […]
United Steelworkers representing the nations refineries turned down a seventh contract offer from Shell Oil Co. Negotiations, which began January 1, took a one week hiatus before resuming on Wednesday and ending in frustration on Friday. The USW said the latest offer from Shell, which is leading the contract negotiations for the U.S. refineries, “failed […]
Steel Market Update last Apparent Excess/Deficit forecast for flat rolled steel shipments and inventories called for shipments in January to exceed 2014 levels by 2 percent. Total flat rolled shipments for the month of January 2015 were projected by us to be 2,415,000 tons. In actuality, shipment levels were 1.6 percent higher than January 2014 […]
Steel Market Update (SMU) Steel Buyers Sentiment Index was measured at +53 earlier today based on the results of our most recent flat rolled steel analysis conducted this week. The +53 is 7 points higher than what we reported at the beginning of the month. Our Steel Buyers Sentiment Index measures how buyers and sellers […]
Those of us near the Great Lakes (presently experiencing minus degree temperatures and seemingly endless snow) are beginning to wonder if winter 2015 is a repeat of 2014. Last year the Great Lakes had unprecedented ice coverage. The Great Lakes shipping season was delayed into April with cargo shipments plummeting by nearly 7 million tons […]
Metal forming companies expressed less optimism in the February Precision Metalforming Association (PMA) Business Conditions Report. Out of a sampling of 119 metal forming companies in the U.S. and Canada, only 33 percent of participants expect economic activity to improve over the next three months, down from 45 percent in January. Incoming orders are expected […]
The American Institute of Architects (AIA) released their Architecture Billings Index (ABI) score for the month of January on Wednesday this week, reporting that the latest index is at a nine month low. The ABI score for January was 49.9, down 2.8 points from December’s score of 52.7. Note that the index is centered around […]
This week the Steel Market Update Price MoMo Index for flat rolled steel in the U.S. is showing hot rolled coil price momentum continuing its downward trend for the 26th week in a row (6 months!). MoMo, a trailing indicator, is measured as a percentage and shows the relation of the current hot rolled coil […]
The first graphic depicted below shows published Chinese data for the growth of GDP, industrial production and consumer prices through Q4 2014. The GDP and industrial production portions of this graph are three month moving averages. GDP grew 7.3 percent y/y in both the 3rd and 4th quarters and has been declining since Q1 2010. […]
Manufacturing activity in New York expanded at a modest pace in February according to the latest Empire State Manufacturing Survey. The general business index dipped two points to register 7.8. The index for new orders was down five points to 1.2 indicating flat activity. Shipments rose 4.5 points to 14.1. Delivery times were relatively unchanged […]
The monthly value of the Federal Reserve Broad Index value of the US $ against our major trading partners has continued to strengthen and in January reached 92.44 after breaking 90 in December for the first time since July 2009. The monthly BI is a “Real” inflation adjusted index. The Fed also reports a daily […]
The Coface Group, a worldwide leader in credit insurance, publishes country risk assessments for 160 countries, based on its unique knowledge of company payment behavior and on the expertise of 350 underwriters located close to clients and their debtors. The following a reprint of their risk outlook for 2015. Laborious Global Recovery, Subject to Multiple […]
Dry cargo rates continue to plummet as the Baltic Dry Cargo index dropped to record lows last week. The index fell to 553 on Wednesday and continued to slide downward to end the week at 530 points. MID-SHIP says shipowners and operators are suffering major revenue losses, with one owner/operator declaring bankruptcy last week. Charterers […]
Operations were terminated at West Coast ports by the Pacific Maritime Association over the weekend. On Monday, the ILWU issued the following statement regarding the re-opening of the ports. “West Coast ports re-opened Monday morning after employers closed the docks for two days, increasing delays for customers needing containers. The union remains focused on reaching […]
The following article was taken from the Armada Corporate Intelligence Report dated February 11,2015. The report is written by Dr. Chris Kuehl and his business partner, Keith Prather. Dr. Kuehl spoke at our last Steel Summit Conference in September 2014 and will once again be a keynote speaker for our 2015 Steel Summit Conference on […]
The USW oil refinery strike has expanded to 11 plants and is nearing the end of its second week. Over 3,800 workers are now actively striking, protesting unsafe conditions and use of unskilled contractors. The latest facilities to be affected by the strike are British Petroleum (BP) refineries in Whiting, Indiana and Toledo, Ohio, joining […]