The US Gross Domestic Product is the values of goods and services produced by all economic activity. The growth of GDP is a function of the growth in the number of employed people multiplied by the growth of their productivity. Steel consumption is correlated to GDP, therefore to understand the direction of the steel market […]
AIST – NASHVILLE, 9 May 2017 — Roger K. Newport, chief executive officer and board member, AK Steel, was named Steelmaker of the Year at AISTech 2017 — The Iron & Steel Technology Conference and Exposition, managed by The Association for Iron & Steel Technology (AIST). The Steelmaker of the Year Award is presented annually […]
Stelco, the former US Steel Canada, is getting nearer to emerging from CCAA protection. A “sanction hearing” is scheduled for June 9 during which the court will decide whether Bedrock Industries will be the new owner. Bedrock has the support of most of the stakeholders but is still facing resistance from the local unions who […]
The following article on the hot rolled coil (HRC) futures markets was written by David Feldstein. As the Flack Global Metals director of risk management, Dave is an active participant in the hot rolled coil (HRC) futures market and we believe he will provide insightful commentary and trading ideas to our readers. Besides writing futures […]
Please see the end of this report for an explanation of data sources. The Broad Index value of the US $ is reported several days in arrears by the Federal Reserve, the latest value published was dated April 14th (Figure 1). The dollar had a recent peak of 128.963 on January 3rd which was the […]
The source of this data is the Conference Board with analysis by Steel Market Update. Please see the end of this piece for an explanation of the indicator. Consumer Confidence decreased 4.6 points in April, falling to 120.3 but this is still the second highest reading since December 2000. The three month moving average (3MMA […]
The headline report of GDP growth in Q1 came in at 0.7 percent a decline from 3.53 percent in the third quarter and 2.08 percent in Q4 2016. Economy.com had this to say about first quarter tendencies. “The first quarter can be full of surprises; during this expansion, first quarter GDP growth has come in […]
In normal markets it is fairly easy to determine where foreign price offers “should” be based on the indexes of export prices in Asia, Europe, Middle East and elsewhere. SMU wants to begin tonight’s article to warn our readers that we are not in a “normal” market due to antidumping suits and now the Section […]
Steel Market Update is a member of an association connected to the construction industry called HARDI. HARDI stands for Heating, Air-conditioning & Refrigeration Distributors International. HARDI and The Institute for Trend Research (ITR), an economic forecasting company, work together to gather economic data to provide a forecast to the HARDI members located in the United […]
The JP Morgan Global Manufacturing PMI dipped slightly to 52.8 in April from 53.0 in March. The PMI has shown expansion (above the 50 no-change mark) for 14 months. Manufacturing conditions slowed in the U.S. but was offset by acceleration in Europe, Japan and the United Kingdom. China expanded at its weakest rate in seven […]
The April 2017 ISM Report on Business showed economic activity in the manufacturing sector expanding for the eighth consecutive month. The PMI registered 54.8, dropping 2.4 points from March as new orders slowed. The PMI has averaged 56.4 since the beginning of the year. New orders decreased 7 points to 57.5 percent. New export orders […]
Steel Market Update is a member of an association connected to the construction industry called HARDI. HARDI stands for Heating, Air-conditioning & Refrigeration Distributors International. HARDI and The Institute for Trend Research (ITR), an economic forecasting company, work together to gather economic data to provide a forecast to the HARDI members located in the United […]
The month of April began with SMU Price Momentum Indicator pointing toward higher prices and by the second week of the month we had moved our Indicator to Neutral which is where it is now as the month ends. Our 3MMA for the SMU Steel Buyers Sentiment Index appears to be peaking at +74. The […]
The Chicago Business Barometer in April reached its highest level since January 2015, posting a score of 58.3 from 57.7 in March. Growing demand for manufactured products pushed new orders up 5.5 points to a near three-year high. The production index in April was at another high level although receding slightly to 59.5 from 61.7. […]
The Tenth District joins the Dallas and Richmond Federal Reserves in reporting slower manufacturing activity in the region. The Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City in its April Manufacturing Survey reported its month-over-month composite index was 7 in April, after readings of 20 in March and 14 in February. Most of the indexes that make […]
Members of the Precision Metalforming Association are anticipating a slight downturn in business conditions during the next three months, according to the latest PMA Business Conditions Report. The April report sampled 120 metalforming companies in the U.S. and Canada and showed 45 percent of participants expecting improvement in general activity in the near future compared […]
Durable goods orders rose to a lower rate in March than expected. New orders rose 0.7 percent to $238.7 billion, well under the Bloomberg forecast of 1.3 percent. Orders for core capital goods (non-military capital goods minus aircraft that are used in GDP calculation) rose 0.2 percent, less than the 0.5 percent predicted. Automotive vehicles […]
The following article on the hot rolled coil (HRC) steel and financial futures markets was written by Jack Marshall of Crunch Risk LLC. Here is how Jack saw trading over the past week: Steel With the exception of HR spot not much has changed this past month in the HR futures curve. When you compare […]
A ruling was made by the ITC on wood from Canada that could have long lasting implications for the flat rolled steel industry. On April 24, 2017, the International Trade Administration (ITC) released their Preliminary Determination of Countervailable subsidies of softwood lumber from Canada. The ITC found that there were subsidies on wood from Canada. […]
This report summarized seven data sources that describe the state of manufacturing in the US. We have reported on most of these separately in our Steel Market Update publications therefore will be brief in this summary. We don’t expect these data sources to all point in the same direction but our intention in summarizing them […]
Two important Federal Reserve reports on manufacturing came out this week from Dallas and Richmond. The Dallas Federal Reserve reports that growth in the manufacturing sector continued for the tenth consecutive month but at a slower pace in April. The production index of the Texas Manufacturing Outlook Survey dipped three points to 15.4. New orders […]
Once each quarter we publish the official statistics for Chinese GDP, industrial production, consumer price inflation and fixed asset investment. Currently available data is through the first quarter except for CPI which is through February. Many analysts don’t believe these Party self-serving figures but we include them in our reports because of the importance of […]
The states compile their employment numbers independently of the Feds, and then both are reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The results are close. In the last seventeen quarters since Q1 2013, the Feds reported total job creation of 10,794,000 and the states reported 10,959,000 a difference of only 0.15 percent. Part of this […]
There have been a slew of Executive Orders coming out of the Trump White House aimed at impacting manufacturing and the steel industry. The “Buy American, Hire American” order is just one of the orders from last week that the manufacturing and steel industry need to watch and understand the potential impacts to your company. […]
Miami – April 20, 2017 – Optima Specialty Steel, Inc. (together with its subsidiaries, collectively the “Company” or “OSS”) today announced that it has entered into a Plan Support Agreement (the “Agreement”) with Optima Acquisitions, LLC (“OA”), the sole shareholder of OSS. The Agreement contemplates that the Company will emerge from Chapter 11 by the […]
The following article on the hot rolled coil (HRC) futures markets was written by David Feldstein. As the Flack Global Metals director of risk management, Dave is an active participant in the hot rolled coil (HRC) futures market and we believe he will provide insightful commentary and trading ideas to our readers. Besides writing futures […]
Washington, D.C. – April 19, 2017 – The first quarter of the year ended on a positive note for the Architecture Billings Index (ABI). As a leading economic indicator of construction activity, the ABI reflects the approximate nine to twelve month lead time between architecture billings and construction spending. The American Institute of Architects (AIA) […]
We include here an unabridged statement from the IMF that was released on Thursday this week which forecasts economic growth for all regions and nations through 2022. The IMF raised its forecast for economic growth in the US in 2017 from 2.2 percent in the October forecast to 2.307 percent and in 2018 from 2.08 […]
HAMILTON, ON, April 19, 2017 /CNW/ – Stelco, the name under which U. S. Steel Canada Inc. carries on business (“Stelco” or the “Company”), announces that it and Bedrock Industries Group LLC (Bedrock) have reached an agreement in principle (the “Agreement”) with the Stelco salaried employees and retirees and certain others represented by court-appointed representatives […]
Total Canadian steel shipments for all products in March were 421,300 net tons, an increase of 15.2 percent from the month before and an increase of 7.4 percent from March 2017. Total steel inventories at the end of the month stood at 1,165,000 tons, down 0.5 percent from last month and down 2.0 percent from […]