The American Institute of Architects (AIA) reported the results of their analysis of member companies demand for design services. The resulting Architecture Billings Index (ABI) is one of the most watched indices associated with residential and commercial construction by the steel community. A tremendous amount of flat rolled steel as well as long products are […]
Housing starts jumped 22.7 percent in November to 1,091,000, well above an annual revised October estimate of 889,000 for October and the highest level in six years. The rate for single family housing starts leapt 20.8 percent to 727,000 while the rate for multi-family units rose 26.8 percent to 354,000. The report by the Commerce […]
The Steel Market Update Price MoMo Index for flat rolled steel in the U.S. remained positive this week for the 10th 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 (HRC) price weighed against the previous 12-week average spot […]
Steel Market Update continues to enhance our proprietary service center inventory model which we call SMU Apparent Excess/Deficit. We are now forecasting service center inventories using our model and, for that reason, in the future we will move this data into the Premium Level within our website. Using our model shipments, shipments were up year-over-year […]
Canadian shipments for all steel products in the month of November were 473,000 net tons, a decrease of 11.1 percent from the month before and a decrease of 4.5 percent from November 2012. Inventories at the end of the month stood at 1,256,700 tons, an increase of 0.9 percent from last month but a decrease […]
The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) says builder confidence in the new single-family home market is improving. The NAHB Index rose four points to a reading of 58 in December. The reading has been above 50 for seven months and is up 11 points year-over-year. “The recent spike in mortgage interest rates has not […]
U.S. industrial production jumped 1.1 percent in November after inching up a revised 0.1 percent in October, according to information released by the Federal Reserve Board on Dec. 16. Manufacturing output increased 0.6 percent for its fourth consecutive monthly gain. Utilities saw a surge of 3.9 percent as winter weather boosted demand for heating. Automobile […]
The December Empire State Manufacturing Survey indicated disappointing manufacturing conditions for December. The survey by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York reported the general index at 1.0, up three points from November but indicating almost no change in activity for the month. The new orders index rose slightly but stayed in negative territory at […]
The spread between the various indices followed by Steel Market Update narrowed this past week with only $5 separating the indexes on benchmark hot rolled coil pricing. Platts dropped $5 per ton and met Steel Market Update at $675 per ton while all of the other indices came in at $670 per ton. Cold rolled […]
In recent years coil coated painted steel (where a full coil of steel is painted on a continuous coil coating line) has been replacing post-painted steel (where steel parts formed bare are then painted one-by-one). It seems unlikely at first glance that painted coil coated steel can been formed into finished parts (like roof panels […]
The next three months are looking good to metalforming companies in the Dec. 2013 Precision Metalforming Association Business Conditions Report. The number of participants that forecast an improvement in economic activity during the next three months jumped to 41 percent, up from 27 percent in November. Likewise, incoming orders are expected to spike with 43 […]
The Canadian housing market is in for an “exceptionally healthy” year in 2014 according to a forecast by real estate leader Re/Max, yet concerns of a “housing bubble” continue to surface. A surging housing market and high consumer debt has been aided by low interest rates intended to spur economic recovery. Canadian household debt is […]
The Steel Market Update Price MoMo Index for flat rolled steel in the U.S. remained positive this week for the 9th 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 advised Steel Market Update that there has been very little movement in flat rolled steel prices this week. We did make a correction to the range on galvanized coils adjusting the lower end of the range to $38.50/cwt based on the data we collected directly from buyers this week. We also saw small […]
The other day Steel Market Update wrote an article about steel buyers anticipating a flat rolled steel price increase announcement out of the domestic mills prior to the end of the year. Not everyone is a believer that will occur and we got several emails and phone calls pointing out short lead times at a […]
Earnings for the shipping market are bullish right now according to the Dec. 4 MID-SHIP Report, with continued optimism for next year’s market. Average earnings for forward freight agreements in 2014 are expected to increase by 13 percent for Handysize, 18 percent for Supramax, 22 percent for Panamax and 28 percent for the Cape market. […]
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 […]