If by chance you are celebrating the holidays on the North Coast you may catch a glimpse of the newest lake freighter, the Algoma Equinox as she slides in and out of port on the Great Lakes and its tributaries. The Algoma Equinox is the newest of a fleet of ships commissioned by Algoma Central […]
With the exception of SMU all of the flat rolled steel indices were status quo from last week to this week. Benchmark hot rolled is right about $670 for everyone but Platts who sees the market up $10 higher than everyone else. Cold rolled is $780ish for everyone but Steel Orbis who has it down […]
Net job creation in November 2013 was 203,000 of which 159,000 were service providing and 44,000 were goods producing. This was the best goods producing result since February this year. Since February 2010, manufacturing has added 554,000 jobs and construction 329,000. In November the private sector added 196,000 jobs and government added 7,000. Of the […]
According to Baker Hughes data from December 6th, 2013, the U.S rig count for this week is 1,775 rigs exploring for or developing oil or natural gas. This count is an increase of 12 rigs when compared to last week, with oil rigs up 6 to 1,397 rigs, gas rigs up 8 to 375 rigs, […]
Buyers and sellers of flat rolled steel continue to be optimistic about their company’s ability to be successful in the current market conditions. Based on the results of our early December steel market analysis, SMU Steel Buyers Sentiment Index was measured at +39. This is up 6 points from our last reading and well within […]
One of the keys when determining the strength and or weakness of the flat rolled steel markets is through what is being reported by buyers regarding mill lead times. We have found our analysis, through the use of our steel market survey, provides a better look at the average lead times and changes to those […]
New residential sales in October soared 25.4 percent above the revised September rate of 354,000 to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 444,000. In comparison, the October 2012 annual estimate was 365,000, a 21.6 percent increase year-over-year. The surge beat economist expectations ranging from 425,000 to 429,000 sales for the period. The median sales price […]
The Steel Market Update Price MoMo Index for flat rolled steel in the U.S. remained positive this week for the 8th week in a row after 4 consecutive weeks of being in negative territory. MoMo, a trailing indicator, is based upon the current hot rolled coil price weighed against the previous 12-week average spot price […]
Steel buyers are showing a little less confidence that the trend for general economic activity will improve in the next six months according to the ISM Steel Buyers Survey for November. The percentage of buyers who believe activity will remain the same increased from 46.2 percent to 66.7 percent this month with the balance expecting […]
US automakers had a stellar month, beating analyst auto sales forecasts with November sales of 1,238,322 vehicles. The seasonally adjusted annualized rate for November soared to 16.4 million, well above 15.3 million a year ago. General Motors delivered 212,060 vehicles in November, its highest November sales in six years. Retail sales were up 19 percent […]
December tends to be a slow month having just come off of a late in the month Thanksgiving Holiday coupled with Christmas and the Jewish Holidays during the month of December. The bottom line is there are a limited number of shipping days during the month. One of the first things SMU will be watching […]
The Empire State Manufacturing Index business conditions held steady for New York manufacturers in October. The general business index fell 5 points to 1.5 but remained in growth status. The new orders index rose 5 points while shipping fell 3 points, suggesting modest increases for both indexes for the month. New York manufacturers continued to […]
Negotiations on 2014 flat rolled steel contracts are heating up. Sources are advising Steel Market Update that there has been some movement in the negotiation process by the domestic mills which has allowed a number of the mills to close some 2014 business. We are also hearing from multiple sources of a move by buyers […]
The JP Morgan Global Manufacturing PMI rose to 53.2 in November from 52.1 in October, indicating a faster improvement in overall operating conditions. Manufacturing output and new orders rose at the quickest pace since February 2011. A moderate rise in employment was reported the US, Japan, the UK, India, Taiwan, South Korea, Turkey, Vietnam, Canada […]
The November ISM Report for November 2013 indicated expansion in the manufacturing sector for the sixth consecutive month and the highest PMI (purchasing mangers index) reading for the year. The PMI registered 57.3 percent, up from 56.4 percent in October. Indices for new orders, production, employment and exports picked up their pace of growth in […]
After two months of sideways movement, November saw our SMU Pricing Momentum Indicator shift to reflect higher steel prices as the trend over the next 30 days. Our proprietary SMU Steel Buyers Sentiment Index remained within optimistic range of the index at +36.5. Sentiment was down one point from the prior month and three points […]
Steel Market Update (SMU) follows four other indices besides our own and provides the data to our members on a weekly basis. Recently, we asked our readers if they would like for us to continue providing CRU data and the responses indicated there continues to be an interest in their numbers. We have agreed to […]
The Chicago Fed Midwest Manufacturing Index (CFMMI) is a monthly estimate by major industry of manufacturing output in the Seventh Federal Reserve District states of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan and Wisconsin. It is a composite index of 15 manufacturing industries that uses hours worked data to measure monthly changes in regional activity. The three month […]
In November consumer confidence declined for the third consecutive month. This was entirely due to the expectations component of the index. On a three month moving average basis the news looks better (Figure 1). On this basis the present situation component has been little changed for four months but expectations have taken a dive, probably […]
The Steel Market Update Price MoMo Index for flat rolled steel in the U.S. remained positive this week for the 7th week in a row after 4 consecutive weeks of being in negative territory. MoMo, a trailing indicator, is based upon the current hot rolled coil price weighed against the previous 12-week average spot price […]
The Fifth District Manufacturing Index surged to 13 in November from an index reading of 1 in October. According to the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, almost all business activity indicators rose except for capacity utilization and backlog of orders, which were flat for the month. The index for shipments advanced 18 points while the […]
The S&P/Case Shiller U.S. National Home Price Index rose 11.2 percent year-over-year for its highest level since 2006, according to data compiled through September 2013. On a quarter-over-quarter basis, the third quarter index rose 3.2 percent. The index is based on the annual returns of 10-City and 20-City Composites. Twelve of the 20 cities posted […]
Flat rolled steel prices continue to be firm to strengthening according to the steel indices followed by Steel Market Update. Benchmark hot rolled coil hovered around $670 per ton on all the indexes with the exception of Platts which moved their number up $5 per ton to $680 per ton. Steel Orbis did not see […]
Shipping markets in the Gulf are seeing some strong rates as producers are anxious to fix and load cargoes before the holidays and year end according to the November 20th MID-SHIP Report. Shipping rates in the The Cape and Panamax markets have eased in the past two weeks but Chinese steel mill restocking of iron […]
Tenth District: Manufacturing activity and expectations for future growth grew modestly in the Tenth District in November according to a survey conducted by the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City. The index for new orders surged from 3 to 15, month-over-month, and indices increased for order backlogs and employment. Indices fell in production, shipments, new […]
Last week I discussed how Steel Mills calculate thickness and width extras. This week we will look at Mill coating extras for Galvanized and Galvalume coated steel coil. I am going to refer again to US Steel’s published list of price extras which you can find on their website. Other mills tend to have similar […]
The total number of Key Market Indicators considered at present is thirty six. The present situation of eleven of the indicators based on historical standards was positive on November 21st the same as on October 31st but there were two changes. We changed the situation of demand for commercial and industrial bank loans from green […]
Lead times shrunk on three of the four flat rolled products followed by Steel Market Update. We saw hot rolled lead times fall back to 4.0 weeks from 4.36 weeks reported at the beginning of November. We also saw cold rolled lead times retreat to 6.0 weeks from 6.39 weeks and Galvalume shrunk to 6.22 […]
Buyers and sellers of flat rolled steel products continue to be optimistic about their company’s ability to be successful in the current market environment, however at lower levels than what we had been seeing over the past few months. The Steel Market Update (SMU) Steel Buyers Sentiment Index was measured this week at +33 down […]
Each month the Bureau of Labor Statistics puts out its series of producer price indexes, for thousands of goods and materials. The latest release on Thursday reported October results. These statistics are a useful way to evaluate any changes in the competitive position of steel against competing materials. For the purpose of this report, SMU […]