The following article on the hot rolled coil (HRC), busheling scrap (BUS), and financial futures markets was written by Jack Marshall of Crunch Risk LLC. Here is how they saw trading over the past week: Hot Rolled Coil (HRC) With spot hot rolled (HR) hovering around the $630 per short ton (ST), HR futures interests […]
The Architectural Billings Index recorded its highest score in 2016 at 53.1, according to the latest report by the American Institute of Architects. The ABI rose from 50.6 in April for its fourth consecutive month of increase in design activity. “Business conditions at design firms have hovered around the break-even rate for the better part […]
Chinese steel trade data was recently released for the month of May 2016, providing updated data on iron ore imports, scrap imports, and flat rolled imports and exports. Chinese imports of iron ore in May were 86,750,000 metric tons, an increase of 3.4 percent from the previous month and an increase of 22.4 percent from […]
The reaction to the latest round of price increase announcements out of ArcelorMittal USA and NLMK USA got one of our readers fired up. After reading Tuesday evening’s issue of Steel Market Update they penned their thoughts on price increases and imports, especially imports out of the “2nd tier guys”: I just finished reading last […]
Speculation continues to grow that KPS Capital, the suitor for Essar Steel Algoma, will also buy US Steel Canada and merge the two companies. Sources for the Globe and Mail and Hamilton Spectator say that KPS is one of the two remaining bidders for the former Stelco operations in Hamilton and Nanticoke. According to anonymous […]
The following article on the hot rolled coil (HRC), busheling scrap (BUS), and financial futures markets was written by Dave Feldstein. As Flack Steel’s 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. […]
The following calculation is used by Steel Market Update to identify the spread between world hot rolled export prices as determined by SteelBenchmarker and domestic (US) hot rolled prices as published by SMU. Steel Market Update compares the world hot rolled export price to which dollars are added for freight, handling, trader margin, etc. The number […]
“If we all knew the direction steel prices were headed, well I wouldn’t be here with you guys….” This was how the conversation began with one of the contacts SMU made earlier this week while in New York City to attend a number of meetings surrounding the Steel Success Strategies conference. There were a number […]
Two bidders continue to vie for purchase of the Hamilton and Nanticoke steel plants in Canada. According to the Hamilton Spectator, sources close to the sale confirm that Essar Group of India and KPS Capital Partners LP of New York are the final contenders for US Steel Canada. KPS is also interested in gaining Essar […]
Here are some of the comments made to SMU over the past few days both in New York City and upon our return to our offices. Regarding scrap prices, one of our sources was telling us that the domestic steel mills are making a mistake by attempting to push ferrous scrap prices lower, especially when […]
On Wednesday this week the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released its series of Producer Price Indexes (PPI) for more than 10,000 goods and materials. For an explanation of this program see the end of this piece. The latest release this week reported results through May. We run this analysis every three or four months […]
Manufacturing in New York regained momentum in June. The Empire State Manufacturing Index surged 15 points to 6.01, a rebound from May’s reading of negative 9.02. The jump to positive numbers surprised economists who were expecting a reading near negative 5.0. The new orders index shot to 10.90 from -5.54 and shipments pulled out of […]
Once a year, Steel Market Update goes to New York City to rub shoulders and swap tales with about 400 of our closest steel friends. The initial attraction is the Steel Success Strategies conference hosted by World Steel Dynamics. Over the years a number of events have been formed by steel publications, futures markets and […]
The Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) introduced a new data set for GDP by state and region last year and back dated it to Q1 2005. On Tuesday this week the data was updated through Q4 2015. Even though we might consider this to be historically “old” we think it’s worth reporting because it is […]
SMU received a couple of inquiries about sheet shipments and one of our Premium customers had a specific question about the data presented in one of our Premium supplemental issues last week. We thought that we should share the data and then present at the end the question and our response for all of our […]
The following article on the hot rolled coil (HRC), busheling scrap (BUS), and financial futures markets was written by Dave Feldstein. As Flack Steel’s 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. […]
Nucor Corp. and JFE Holdings of Japan will enter a joint venture to build and operate a steel processing plant in central Mexico to supply the country’s automotive market. The 50-50 venture will cost $270 million to construct and have a capacity of 400,000 tons per year of galvanized sheet steel. The substrate for processing […]
This report summarizes total steel supply from 2003 through April 2016 and year on year changes. It then compares domestic mill shipments and total supply to the market. It quantifies market direction by product and enables a side by side comparison of the degree to which imports have absorbed demand. Sources are the American Iron […]
The oil pipeline business has been suffering due to the crash in oil prices but here is something to cheer about for pipeline producers –the beer pipeline. In Bruges, Belgium brew master Xavier Vanneste is about to open the taps to send his beer from the De Halve Maan brewery along a 3 kilometer pipeline […]
We normally reserve Employment articles for our Premium members but felt this would be a good piece to share with our Executive members as well. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported on Friday in their analysis of non-farm employment that 38,000 jobs were added in May, a result so poor and unexpected as to […]
(Mt. Royal, New Jersey, June 6, 2016) – The Association of Women in the Metals Industry (AWMI) is pleased to announce Mary Pollen as 2015 Member of the Year! “It’s really an honor just to be nominated.” said Ms. Pollen. “I know most of the women nominated for this award well. They are all very […]
The US Treasury Secretary told Chinese students at Tsinghua University that excess steel capacity is distorting the world market. The comments came ahead of talks in Beijing between the US and China on trade and security. “Excess capacity is not just a domestic issue in China,” said Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew. “The question of excess […]
(Mt. Royal, New Jersey, June 6, 2016) – The Association of Women in the Metals Industry (AWMI) is pleased to announce Mary Pollen as 2015 Member of the Year. “It’s really an honor just to be nominated.” said Ms. Pollen. “I know most of the women nominated for this award well. They are all very […]
The following article on the hot rolled coil (HRC), busheling scrap (BUS), and financial futures markets was written by Andre Marshall and Jack Marshall of Crunch Risk LLC. Here is how they saw trading over the past week: Financial Markets: We are testing the highs, literally. The S&P is right up against the 2105-2210 resistance, […]
The metalforming industry is expecting a slight dip in business conditions in the next three months according to the May 2016 Precision Metalforming Association (PMA) Business Conditions Report. The May report, sampling 114 metalforming companies in the United States and Canada, indicated companies are expecting incoming order levels to remain unchanged during the next few […]
Manufacturing grew for the third straight month according to supply executives surveyed in the ISM Manufacturing Report on Business. The May PMI was 51.3, up 0.5 percent from April. Although the PMI didn’t have a large gain, the three month upward trend is good news since the PMI was in contraction (below 50) from October […]
Global manufacturing appeared stagnant in May, according to the JP Morgan Global Manufacturing PMI. The composite index was at the no change mark of 50.0, nearly the same as April’s reading of 50.1. Production and new orders hovered just above the 50 mark while new export orders fell at one of the fastest rates in […]
SMU Price Momentum continues to reflect the strength of steel mills as we expect prices to continue to rise over the next 30 days. Our Price Momentum Indicator has been pointing toward higher prices since early December 2015 (6 months and counting). Although our Steel Buyers Sentiment Index took a hit in May for both […]
Sources for the following article are the Conference Board and SMU analysis. Please see the end of this piece for an explanation of the indicator. Consumer Confidence declined from 96.1 in March to 94.7 in April and to 92.6 in May. Included below is the official news release from the Conference Board. The three month […]
Figure 1 shows published data for the growth of GDP, industrial production and consumer prices through the first quarter of 2016. The GDP and industrial production portions of this graph are three month moving averages. The growth of GDP was 6.7 percent in the first quarter, down from 6.8 percent in the fourth quarter, and […]