Written by: Peter Wright Chicago Fed national Activity Index, (CFNAI) is a widely respected measure of both overall and detailed economic activity in the US. The index’s three-month moving average, increased to +0.30 in January from +0.23 in December. Given the substantial upward revisions for November and December, January’s result marked the third consecutive reading […]
Question is can TK get two or more mills in a bidding war? Our sources advise SMU that the binding bids for the ThyssenKrupp Americas plants (Calvert, Alabama and CSA in Brazil) – the ones which truly count – are to be submitted by the end of this week. There are a number of prospective […]
Combination of higher zinc spot prices, competitive extras and higher zinc premiums are squeezing coating lines Galvanized converters are struggling to compete against mills with lower coating extras as LME Zinc spot prices have climbed from the low $.80’s per pound to recent high’s close to $1.00 per pound. Over the past few trading days […]
The whole reason behind the various indices is to provide transparency to domestic mill spot transactions. This, in turn, gives buyers and sellers a basis to work from when negotiating both existing (spot) and future (contract) deals. The issue everyone has – as a buyer your job is to be at the cutting edge – […]
Frustration appears to be running high as buyers and sellers try to hold on to the gains (or to the floor) made a few weeks ago. Despite their order books being weak, domestic mills do not seem willing to go below (or in many cases match) their previous deal. However, if they are not willing […]
Steel Market Update (SMU) started receiving calls by late this afternoon advising us to prepare for a new round of price increase announcements. This afternoon, United States Steel Corporation (USS) put out a letter under the signature of RY Kopf, General Manager North American Flat-Rolled Marketing, advising the various General Managers of Sales of an […]
For union watchers out there, the Baltimore Brew broke a story today regarding the International United Steelworkers placing USW Local 9477 in “administratorship” with the intention of removing all but one of the local union officials. There is a question as to what will happen with the assets of USW Local 9477 which owned a […]
We had a typo in the HRC forward curve table which was in last Thursday evening’s SMU newsletter – October 2013 and November 2013 should have read $640 not $340…
According to Baker Hughes data from February 22nd, 2013, the U.S rig count for this week is 1,761 rigs exploring for or developing oil or natural gas. This number represents a decrease of 1 rig from last week. Compared to last year the 1,761 count is a decrease of 220 rigs. Canadian rigs increased by […]
Something to make the domestic mills a wee bit happier – but they won’t see the results for a few months. According to the results from last week’s survey, both manufacturing companies and service centers reported the lowest percentage of interest in placing foreign steel orders since we began asking the question. For manufacturing companies, […]
This week, the SMU Fair Value HRC (hot rolled coil) Model has spot HRC pricing below Fair Value for the second week in a row. This is due to the SMU average spot HRC index remaining unchanged from last week at $610 per ton and scrap inputs remaining the same. The Fair Value model now […]
Manufacturing companies reported service center spot prices as either stable (82 percent) or decreasing (18 percent) during our most recent SMU steel market survey. When compared to the results taken at the beginning of February we found no longer were any of the manufacturing companies reporting any attempts by the distributors to raise prices. In […]
Steel Market Update (SMU) flat rolled price assessments remained the same on hot rolled, cold rolled and Galvalume this past week compared to the week before. Our galvanized price average was $5 per ton lower than one week earlier as the lower end of our range dropped by $10 per ton. Platts did not change […]
Split on Increase, Lead Times, Sentiment for Sideways Pricing – Market has Little Direction Steel Market Update (SMU) continues to set a new record each week we hold our Price Momentum Indicator at Neutral. The longest previous record for a Neutral indication for market price direction was five weeks (back in late May/June 2011) for […]
Written by: John Packard, Publisher An important piece of the value behind Steel Market Update is based on the relationships I developed during my 31 year tenure in the flat rolled steel business. Over that period of time I interacted with hundreds of companies in various capacities but primarily in a sales or management function. […]
I was watching the daily results from our SMU steel survey which began on Monday of this week. I found it curious those working on Monday (a holiday to some, but not all in the U.S.) were much more negative than those who responded to our survey as the week progressed. Our SMU Steel Buyers […]
Written by: Sandy Williams The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to consider whether U.S. Steel union workers can be compensated for time spent changing clothes for their jobs. Currently the collective bargaining agreement does not require compensation but workers claim the law provides for the payment even if the bargaining agreement does not. The court […]
Written by: Sandy Williams A sellers market is beginning to develop, says the National Association of Realtors, as inventory drops and prices begin to rise. Existing home sales rose a slight 0.4 percent in January to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.92 million from a downwardly revised 4.90 million in December. The annual sales […]
Written by: Sandy Williams >New residential housing starts slowed in January as winter gripped the U.S. Housing starts were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 890,000 in January, according data released by the Department of Commerce. The January figure was 8.5 percent below the December revised annual rate of 973,000, although 23.6 percent above […]
Written by: Sandy Williams Despite a record year for sales, Olympic steel reported a disappointing fiscal year with net earnings of $2.3 million after a non-cash goodwill impairment charge of $6.6 million in the fourth quarter. In comparison, net earnings for 2011 were $25.0 million. Net sales for 2012 were a record $1.4 billion, up […]
Written by: Sandy Williams Reliance Steel reported an 18 percent drop in net income of $80.4 million in fourth quarter 2012. Net income for the year rose 17.4 percent year over year to 403.5 million. Sales of $1.89 billion for the fourth quarter were 7.1 percent lower than a year ago and down 8.1 percent […]
Utilizing a trailing average hot rolled coil (HRC) price, the SMU Price MoMo Index for flat rolled steel in the U.S. remained below zero percent this week for the sixth week after eight consecutive weeks of positive momentum readings. MoMo is based upon the current hot rolled coil price weighed against the previous 12 week […]
Written by: Bradley Clark, Director of Steel Trading, Kataman Metals U.S. Midwest #1 Busheling Ferrous Scrap (AMM) Firm on Weather Concerns As the month has progressed sentiment is starting to fall solidify around the idea that busheling prices may rebound $10-20 in March. Worsening weather conditions in the Midwest and dealers trying to recoup last […]
Based on the results of this week’s survey, lead times on hot rolled and cold rolled slid slightly compared to where they were at the beginning of the month. We found aluminized to have dropped by slightly more than half a week from 6.40 weeks down to 5.83 weeks while galvanized lead times actually increased […]
Written by: Bradley Clark, Director of Steel Trading, Kataman Metals The physical HRC market continues to soften as mills offer steel at lower levels this week from a week before. The futures market has experienced a divergence in movements over the past week with the front of the curve weakening while the second half of […]
Steel Market Update (SMU) conducted our mid-February steel survey beginning on Monday and concluding on Thursday afternoon of this week. We invited approximately 685 active participants (buyers, sellers or executives) involved in the flat rolled steel segment of the industry to respond to our questions regarding market trends, pricing and Sentiment. SMU Steel Buyers Sentiment […]
Written by: Sandy Williams The American Institute of Architects (AIA) released their Architects Billing Index (ABI) which is a leading economic indicator of construction activity. The Architecture Billings Index rose in January to54.2, up from a seasonally adjusted 51.2 in December and the strongest growth since November 2007. The ABI reflects the approximate nine to […]
On days like today I am reminded of one of my steel customers who, when purchasing his original SMU membership back in 2008 told me, “I don’t know what you are going to write about in a couple of months.” I had to actually leave articles out of tonight’s issue because there was too much […]
Steel Market Update received the following information from an ArcelorMittal spokesperson this evening: On February 19, 2013, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) posted a Notice of Allowance of a re-issue of ArcelorMittal pioneer patent US 6 296 805 on aluminum pre-coated steel product for hot stamping, worldwide known as Usibor®, confirming its […]
Residential Storage Water Heaters U.S. shipments of residential gas storage water heaters for December 2012 decreased 1.0 percent, to 360,568 units, down from 364,054 units shipped in December 2011. Residential electric storage water heater shipments decreased 6.7 percent in December 2012, to 325,435 units, down from 348,692 units shipped in December 2011. For the […]