U.S. light-vehicle sales fell for the third consecutive month in March as consumers choose trucks and SUVs over cars. Sedans weren’t the only vehicles to see softening this month, however. Small pickup trucks declined for the first time since August, according to data from Wards Auto. Larger pickups and SUV sales continued to grow as […]
Congratulations to AK Steel which will cut the ribbon on their new Research and Innovation facility at the end of this week. It is truly enjoyable to see a domestic mill investing in the future of the industry. The new 135,000 square foot, $36 million dollar facility is located in the Renaissance District of Middletown, […]
An explanation of the Key Indicators concept is given at the end of this piece for those readers who are unfamiliar with it. This will explain the difference between our view of the present situation which is subjective and our analysis of trends which is based on the latest facts available. During March our view […]
When we began planning for our 2017 SMU Steel Summit Conference I was actually thinking that I would be able to drop the subject of trade and perhaps work on other issues of “more importance” by the time we reached the end of August 2017. Even with the CORE, hot rolled, cold rolled and cut-to-length […]
Home prices in January gained 5.9 percent annually, according to the latest S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller National Home Price Index. The January data shows home prices were at a 31-month high and continuing on a positive trend despite tight inventory. On a year-over-year basis, the 20-city composite was up 5.7 percent compared to 5.5 percent in […]
The Steel Market Update Steel Price Momentum Index (MoMo) for hot rolled steel in the United States remained in positive territory for the fifth consecutive week after briefly dipping into negative territory for a single week. MoMo is a trailing indicator and shows the relationship between the current U.S. hot rolled coil price movements against the […]
Please excuse me as I am asking for a pass on tonight’s Final Thoughts. I left Las Vegas yesterday morning with a case of the 24-48 hour flu. I guess I could write a couple of paragraphs about our next Steel 101 workshop or about our SMU Steel Summit Conference. But, I thought my energy […]
We are getting mixed messages regarding “real” lead times coming out of the domestic steel mills. The information we are sharing below comes from actual mill lead times coming directly from the producing mills to their customers. This is different than the lead time averages collected by Steel Market Update and shared with our readers […]
I had a couple of conversations earlier today regarding the status of trade and, in particular, whether or not there could be further trade cases filed by the domestic steel mills or by the U.S. Department of Commerce. At least one mill is hearing that there could be new trade cases. This could become an […]
Buyers and sellers of flat rolled steel having been bouncing like the proverbial rubber ball over the past six weeks as they try to make sense of where steel prices are heading over the near term. Steel Market Update (SMU) asked those responding to our flat rolled steel market trends survey last week where they […]
“Fair and Free Trade” is something that those of us who have been in the steel industry since 2000 have heard over and over again from the domestic steel industry. What exactly is “fair” trade and who should decide? The steel mills have done an exceptional job of determining the talking points through lobbying efforts […]
Steel Market Update concluded our analysis of the flat rolled steel markets earlier today. One of the proprietary products produced out of our twice monthly analysis is the SMU Steel Buyers Sentiment Index which consists of Current and Future Sentiment Indices. Our Current Sentiment Index as a single data point came in at +73. This […]
Flat rolled lead times, which had been stuck in a rut over the past couple of months, have started to move out according to those responding to our flat rolled market trends survey. We are now seeing average lead times on hot rolled close to five weeks (4.81 weeks). We also saw movement in cold […]
The aggressiveness of the flat rolled steel mills was minimal on Galvalume steels this week but other products appear to be open for discussion, according to those taking the SMU flat rolled market trends analysis survey just completed earlier today (Thursday, March 23, 2017). We found 47 percent of our respondents reporting the domestic mills […]
The U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development reports sale of new single-family homes jumped in February to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 592,000, a 6.1 percent increase from January and 12.8 percent year-over-year. The median sales price of new houses sold in February 2017 was $296,200 and the […]
Existing home sales slowed in February, declining by 3.7 percent from the previous month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.84 million. According to the National Association of Realtors, the rate continues to exceed year ago levels and was 5.4 percent above the sales pace reported in February 2016. The median sale price for […]
Based on the most recent MSCI data, carbon flat rolled service centers in the United States shipped 2,103,000 tons of sheet products. Our SMU Service Center Apparent Excess/Deficit forecast had called for shipments to be 2,191,000 tons. So, we missed our forecast by 88,000 tons. Our original forecast called for 4,551,000 tons of flat rolled […]
The Steel Market Update Steel Price Momentum Index (MoMo) for hot rolled steel in the United States remained in positive territory for the fourth consecutive week after briefly dipping into negative territory last month. MoMo is a trailing indicator and shows the relationship between the current U.S. hot rolled coil price movements against the previous 12-week […]
First, a note about our price ranges and indices published on Tuesday evening. One of the things that I saw during my collection process was what I perceived as strength or weakness in the numbers on certain products. What do I mean by that? When checking our flat rolled steel market trends survey results I […]
The unseasonably warm weather in February resulted in vehicle sales being stronger than expected. On a seasonally adjusted annual basis, sales were 17.58 million units. Truck sales continued to capture market share as gas prices remained steady and incentive spending remained high. Moody’s expect auto sales to settle in at about 16.5 million units later […]
Galvanized steel buyers need to continue to watch LME zinc pricing as there are reports out there suggesting higher zinc prices as 2017 progresses and into 2018. This will be one of the subjects touched on during our 7th SMU Steel Summit Conference at the end of August. With the mills just having announced new […]
Steel mill lead times are one of the key indicators of future direction of steel prices. Steel buyers must be aware of the amount of time it takes a supplier to produce and ship a new order. Lead times and balancing inventories go hand in hand. When lead times shrink, buyers can pull back on […]
Over the course of a few weeks, buyers and sellers of flat rolled steels changed their view of the direction of flat rolled steel price direction. In the middle of February only 14 percent of those responding to our flat rolled steel market trends analysis survey reported prices would move higher with the majority (52 […]
When we conducted our flat rolled market trends analysis during the middle of February we found 20 percent of our respondents had concerns regarding supply during calendar year 2017. The majority of respondents (63 percent) expressed no concerns about supply. As we move forward to last week the majority is still expressing no concerns about […]
We will begin a new analysis of the flat rolled steel market on Monday with our invitations set to go out at 8 AM on Monday morning. If you receive an invitation please take a moment to click on the link/button contained in the message which will take you to SurveyMonkey.com which hosts our questionnaire. […]
President Trump announced on Wednesday the rollback of fuel economy standards that were established by executive action near the end of the Obama administration. Speaking to automotive executives and workers in Detroit, MI, Trump said, “Today, I am announcing that we are going to cancel that executive action. We are going to restore the originally […]
Housing starts in February jumped 3 percent from January to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,288,000. Single family starts gained 6.5 percent to a rate of 872,000 for its highest level in nearly ten years. Housing starts for buildings of five units or more were down 7.7 percent to 396,000. Regionally single family starts […]
The Steel Market Update Steel Price Momentum Index (MoMo) for hot rolled steel in the United States remained in positive territory for the third consecutive week after briefly dipping into negative territory three weeks ago. MoMo is a trailing indicator and shows the relationship between the current U.S. hot rolled coil price movements against the previous […]
A quick note about our galvanized index: Effective today we are adjusting the coating extra being used on our .060” G90 galvanized benchmark items from $69 per ton to $78 per ton. We are continuing to use the US Steel extra for guidance. So, the change that you see in our G90 item is a […]
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 January 2017. You may read the press release on their website here. Residential Storage Water Heaters U.S. shipments of residential gas storage water heaters for January 2017 increased 1.8 […]