The Architecture Billings Index remained positive in June but slipped to 52.6 to 53.1, according to the latest survey by the American institute of Architects. The new projects inquiry index dropped to 58.6 from 60.1 the previous month. Any reading above 50 indicates a growth in design services. “Demand for residential projects has surged this […]
The Steel Market Update (SMU) Price Momentum Index (MoMo) for hot rolled steel in the United States turned negative this week, following a 28 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 […]
The spread between hot rolled and cold rolled/coated steels continues to be at dangerous (my opinion) levels. The U.S. steel industry has been systematically “building a dam” (Lewis Leibowitz words) around this country in order to prevent what they call unfairly subsidized and unfairly traded plate, hot rolled, cold rolled, galvanized and Galvalume steels. The […]
Housing starts rose 4.8 percent in June to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,189,000, exceeding analyst expectations for the month. On a year-over-year basis, starts were 2.0 percent lower than the rate of 1,334,000 in June 2015. May’s estimate was revised downward to 1.14 million unit rate from the previously reported 1.16 million units. […]
I want to take a moment to thank my Steel Market Update team that has been working almost 24 hours a day in order to stay on top of the Steel Summit Conference for this year. I am not positive but, I think we will be the second largest steel conference in the U.S. by […]
Below is the latest release issued by the the Air-Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute (AHRI) regarding residential and commercial heating and cooling equipment shipments through May 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 May 2016 decreased 13.6 percent […]
We knew it would happen and it has, we learned late on Friday that our room block has been sold out. We are trying to see if there is anything we can do to expand the block and we will be working on that over the next couple of days. However, there is another option […]
The Steel Market Update (SMU) Price Momentum Index (MoMo) for hot rolled steel in the United States remained positive for the 28th consecutive week, following a 21 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 a […]
We released our SMU Events App on Tuesday morning. On Wednesday I received a text from one of our registered attendees, “Hey, your app is pretty good John. Is there a quantity discount on additional sign ups?” First, thank you for the vote of confidence. I thought our App went over pretty well last year […]
The Dodge Momentum Index leapt 11.2 percent in June for a reading of 134.4 from the revised May reading of 120.8. Dodge Data & Analytics attributes the jump to a 14.6 percent increase in institutional construction planning and a 7.7 percent increase in commercial planning. Writes Dodge: “The gain in commercial planning reports is a […]
We discovered earlier today that our office phones (including our 800 number) are down and calls are not being transferred or going to voicemail. We are in touch with Comcast to get the issue resolved. Although we understand it is a system wide failure not just our phones. In the meantime, if you need to […]
Flat rolled steel industry participants continue to be optimistic about the markets, according to the recent flat rolled market trends analysis conducted by Steel Market Update. However, we are seeing a slightly less optimistic trend for this time of year compared to what we were reporting at the same point in time in 2014 and […]
Buyers and sellers of flat rolled steel are not believers that the next move will be for higher flat rolled steel prices over the next couple of months. At least that is what the respondents to our most recent flat rolled steel questionnaire believe. Based on the analysis of last week’s survey, 60 percent of […]
Many of those associated with the steel mills believe this week will be the one where buyers come back to the market after having taken a couple of weeks off for holiday. We will see if the buyers return or if the erosion of scrap prices (at least obsolete grades) will be enough to start […]
Since 2008, Steel Market Update has been measuring how steel buyers and sellers feel about their company’s ability to be successful in the existing market environment (which we call “Current Sentiment”). We also probe the same group of manufacturers, steel service centers, steel mills, trading companies and toll processors on how they feel about their […]
On Tuesday of this week Steel Market Update began canvassing the flat rolled steel industry through the use of our online survey which we use twice per month. We invited slightly more than 550 people to participate as we try to analyze market trends. One of the key areas of inquiry is that of lead […]
A second key subject addressed in our flat rolled steel survey regards negotiations between the domestic steel mills and their customers. We ask manufacturing companies and steel service centers to comment on whether their domestic mill suppliers are willing to negotiate spot steel pricing on hot rolled, cold rolled, galvanized and Galvalume steels. The less […]
The Steel Market Update (SMU) Price Momentum Index (MoMo) for hot rolled steel in the United States remained positive for the 27th consecutive week, following a 21 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 a […]
An executive with one of the larger scrap companies told us that trading finally got under way in the Southeast over the past 24 hours. We were told, “Scrap trading got underway in the Southeastern markets late yesterday and today. While demand remained intact for the most part, bearish sentiment seems to be on the […]
Each month the Commerce Department issues its Construction Put in Place (CPIP) data, usually on the first working day covering activity two months earlier. May data was released on Friday July 1st and included revisions back to January 2014. Construction Put in Place is based on spending work as it occurs, estimated for a given […]
Despite a 2.5 percent year-over-year increase in June, U.S. automotive sales were slower than the 4.0 percent expected by most analysts. WardsAuto reports sales totaled 1.5 million units last month but the seasonally adjusted annual rate was 16.6 million units, well below the 17.0 million in June 2015 and at the slowest sales pace of […]
The Associated General Contractors of America report that construction spending fell 0.8 percent in May to $1.143 trillion. Most of the decline was due to lower spending in private nonresidential construction. The press release from AGC follows: Construction spending dipped in May but posted strong, broad-based gains for the first five months of 2016 compared […]
To our USA customers welcome back from your 4th of July holiday. I saw this quote while doing some research this afternoon, “Fun is one of the most important and underrated ingredients in any successful venture” (Richard Branson) This is something I have believed in for my entire steel career. Speaking of fun, we have […]
This Key Markets Indicator report is something we produce for our Premium level clients. However, we thought that our Executive level readers would appreciate knowing… An explanation of the Key Indicators concept is given at the end of this piece for those readers who are unfamiliar with it. The total number of indicators considered in […]
The Associated General Contractors of America report that declining infrastructure investment has led to declining or stagnant construction employment in May. The latest report from AGC follows. Construction employment declined or was stagnant in 131, or 37 percent, of 358 metro areas between May 2015 and May 2016, according to a new analysis of federal […]
The Steel Market Update (SMU) Price Momentum Index (MoMo) for hot rolled steel in the United States remained positive for the 25th consecutive week, following a 21 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 a […]
I happen to be traveling this week and weekend. I am in Maine where in my youth my family used to vacation. Maine is a beautiful state to visit if you have not been here. I want to take a moment to wish all of my U.S.A. readers a safe and happy 4th of July […]
Home prices continued to climb in April according to the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices. Data released for April 2016 20-city composite showed a 0.5 percent month-over-month increase, and a gain of 5.4 percent year-over-year. Year-over-year rates were highest in cities in the West with Portland up 12.3 percent, Seattle up 10.7 percent, and Denver gaining […]
I want to thank everyone who has gone to the effort of registering early for our Steel Summit Conference. We are exceeding expectations having already registered three times as many people as we had at this time last year. If you have not yet registered we have provided a listing of the companies attending (so […]
We were a little surprised on Friday when the International Trade Commission (ITC) announced they had reached a unanimous decision on the CORE (corrosion resistant) trade case. This one is important because the first ITC ruling on cold rolled from Japan and China was a slam dunk. Neither country chose to defend themselves and basically […]