I did a whirlwind trip to Philadelphia along with John Eckstein, one of our Steel 101 instructors, for a speaking engagement with a manufacturing company in the area. We provided a hybrid Steel 101/Steel Market Update presentation to a small group of executives. More and more this is something I am being asked to do […]
Steel Market Update (SMU) has adjusted our Price Momentum Indicator to reference spot prices as moving higher from this point over the next 30 days. Our decision to move our indicator is due to the continued high prices for steel mill inputs, such as 62% Fe iron ore fines in China being sold at $91.50/dmt […]
For those of you interested in attending our April Steel 101 workshop in Toledo, Ohio we have sold out and we have people already on a waiting list. We are planning on a late spring/early summer workshop and I hope to have details up as soon as we have concluded our negotiations with one of […]
The following article was written by Mario Briccetti, one of our Steel 101 workshop instructors and the director of the consulting firm: Briccetti & Associates. Mario has written other articles about the costs associated with coating galvanized and Galvalume steels. Those articles can be found in our website in the “Steel Buyers Basics” section of […]
Sales of new homes climbed 3.7 percent in January to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 555,000, according to estimates released jointly today by the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. January sales were 5.5 percent higher than the January 2016 estimate of 526,000. The median sales price of new […]
In January US light vehicle sales fell to 17.6 million units from 18.4 million in December on a seasonally adjusted annual basis. The decline was almost entirely in the car sector as shown in Figure 1. Even though sales declined they were still a bit stronger than expected. Drivers are (no pun intended) employment gains […]
We are moving into another exciting week for the flat rolled steel industry. Ferrous scrap negotiations will begin this week and how they are resolved will determine whether flat rolled steel prices roar higher from here or wander around looking for a soft landing. We will be watching and listening for clues about scrap prices […]
Existing-home sales in January increased at the fastest pace since February 2007, said the National Association of Realtors. January sales grew 3.3 percent year over year to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.69 million. The median existing-home price in January was $228,900, up 7.1 percent from January 2016 for the 595h consecutive month of […]
The Steel Market Update Steel Price Momentum Index (MoMo) for hot rolled steel in the United States turned negative this week, following a long 14 week positive streak. MoMo is a trailing indicator and shows the relationship between the current U.S. hot rolled coil price movements against the previous 12-week average price as a percentage. A positive […]
Scrap, scrap, scrap, scrap and scrap…that is what everyone is going to be talking about for the next week to ten days. David Feldstein in tonight’s HRC Futures article suggested prime grades could go higher in March by as much as $80 per gross ton. I have read articles that suggest the numbers could be […]
Late last week the MSCI released their service center shipment and inventories data. Steel Market Update (SMU) provides detailed articles to both our Executive and Premium members about the MSCI data. One of the special articles we do for Premium only customers is our Service Center Flat Rolled Inventories Apparent Excess/Deficit model. This is a […]
Galvanized steel buyers need to remain aware of the movement in zinc pricing. With the strike at the zinc-processing facility in Canada there is a possibility that zinc supplies could tighten here in the United States. Zinc prices have been trading on the LME in the $1.30-$1.35 per pound over the past week. At the […]
Steel mill lead times, the time it takes for a new order to be produced by the domestic flat rolled steel mills, remain essentially unchanged from what Steel Market Update reported at the beginning of February. The lead times being reported are compiled by Steel Market Update as part of our flat rolled steel market […]
The respondents to our latest SMU Flat Rolled Steel Market Trends Analysis are reporting steel mills as actively negotiating prices on all flat rolled with the possible exception of Galvalume. Seventy-nine percent of the respondents reported steel mills as willing to negotiate hot rolled spot pricing. We need to go back to our mid-October 2016 […]
Steel Market Update (SMU) watches the flat rolled steel service centers very closely for signs of strength or weakness. These signs come in the form of discounting spot prices to their customers (or to each other). As markets weaken and the steel mills become more aggressive in their negotiations with the distributors, the service centers […]
As mentioned in an earlier article, steel buyers need to be aware of the potential for a new round of price increase announcements out of the domestic mills. The drop in scrap prices in the first few days of February followed by a sharp rise between now and then have the mills a bit on […]
Buyers and sellers of flat rolled steel continue to fly high and are optimistic about their company’s ability to be successful both in the existing market environment (Current Sentiment) as well as looking out three to six months into the future (Future Sentiment). Both Current Sentiment and Future Sentiment set record highs based on the […]
Housing starts in January declined by 2.6 percent from the revised December total but were 10.5 percent higher than the January 2016 rate, according to the latest report by the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Housing starts were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,246,000. Single family […]
The Steel Market Update (SMU) Steel Price Momentum Index (MoMo) for hot rolled steel in the United States remained positive for the 14th consecutive week, following a long 17 week negative streak. MoMo is a trailing indicator and shows the relationship between the current U.S. hot rolled coil price movements against the previous 12-week average price as […]
News for those attending this year’s SMU Steel Summit Conference, we will have free Wi-Fi for everyone attending. This will allow attendees to interact easier with other attendees and with our polling and other features on the SMU App. The SMU App will also have some new features this year and we will write about […]
The Associated General Contractors of America caution that rising construction costs, coupled with restrictions on imported construction materials, may drive up prices for infrastructure and residential and nonresidential buildings. A long-term infrastructure funding mechanism will provide more benefit than Buy America policies, says the Association. A press release from AGC follows. Construction Officials Caution That […]
Below is the latest data release issued by the the Air-Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute (AHRI) regarding residential and commercial heating and cooling equipment shipments through December 2016. You may read the press release on their website here. Residential Storage Water Heaters U.S. shipments of residential gas storage water heaters for December 2016 increased 1.3 […]
We have a number of articles in tonight’s newsletter about China and Chinese steel and iron ore prices. Why do we pay so much attention to one country? China controls 50 percent of the world’s steel production. The country has somewhere around 300 million metric tons (330 million net tons) of excess capacity. They have […]
My apologies as I have been consumed lately with making sure we have a program staffed with the absolute best speakers at this year’s SMU Steel Summit Conference. This will be the first year we will have a manufacturer’s panel. The idea is to have three CEO’s talk about how they see business, trade and […]
The January Dodge Momentum Index gained 3.9 percent to register at 142.6 from a revised reading of 137.3 in December. The index is a monthly measure of the initial report for nonresidential buildings in planning and leads nonresidential construction spending for buildings by a full year. The index is considered an indicator of future construction […]
The Steel Market Update (SMU) Steel Price Momentum Index (MoMo) for hot rolled steel in the United States remained positive for the twelfth consecutive week, following a long 17 week negative streak. MoMo is a trailing indicator and shows the relationship between the current U.S. hot rolled coil price movements against the previous 12-week average price as […]
The Nucor Louisiana DRI plant is down for 4-5 weeks according to information just received by SMU from Nucor spokesperson Katherine Miller. Here is what she told us: “We recently had an equipment failure that has temporarily stopped production at our Louisiana DRI plant. Due to the nature of the DRI process and the cooling […]
Over the next few weeks we will begin rolling out our program and our speakers for this year’s SMU Steel Summit Conference. I am very excited as the program is coming together very well and I believe this will be our best conference to date. We have taken the suggestions received last year as well […]
Last week Steel Market Update (SMU) conducted our early February flat rolled steel market trends analysis which is just a long way of saying our survey. Our analysis began on Monday and ended on Thursday afternoon. We covered a large number of topics with manufacturing companies, service centers, steel trading companies, steel mills and suppliers […]
Construction employment was at its highest level since 2008 in January, according to data analyzed by the Associated General Contractors of America. The total could be much higher if there were more skilled workers available to hire, said AGC chief economist Ken Simonson. The press release from AGC follows: Construction employment increased by 36,000 jobs […]