Existing home sales fell for the first time in five months, dipping 2.5 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 6.69 million. Sales fell or held steady in all regions although remained significantly higher on a year-over-year basis. “Home sales in November took a marginal step back, but sales for all of 2020 are […]
I received a call earlier today from one of our readers who is also a consultant to companies who purchase flat rolled steel. He mentioned to me that there is some confusion with companies who think our index is the same as CRU, since we are owned by CRU. That belief is ill-advised and flat […]
Construction employment remains below pre-pandemic levels in 35 states even though 31 states and D.C. added jobs from October to November, said the Associated General Contractors in an analysis of November government data. “An increase in project cancellations and postponements is forcing nonresidential contractors to lay off workers as they complete projects started before the […]
Tomorrow (Monday, Dec. 21) will be the winter solstice in the Northern Hemisphere, the shortest day of the year (darkest day of the year). With the pandemic raging, and the government breaking out two vaccines to treat COVID-19, the hope is that as the daylight gets longer the pandemic will begin to fade away. For […]
Housing starts rose 1.2 percent in November to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,547,000 and were 12.8 percent higher than November 2019. Single-family housing starts flattened in November increasing just 0.4 percent to a rate of 1,186,000. Starts for buildings of five units or more rose 8.0 percent. On a year-to-date basis, single-family construction […]
Flat Rolled = 40.0 Shipping Days of Supply Plate = 45.7 Shipping Days of Supply Flat Rolled Service center flat rolled steel inventories continue to reach new lows. At the end of November, service centers carried 40 shipping days of supply, down from 43.1 days in October. November had 19 shipping days, compared to October’s […]
With hot rolled steel fast approaching $1,000 a ton, it’s only a matter of time before prices begin to cut into demand. Some SMU sources already report early signs of a demand shift. Others are less concerned about the volume of orders than about where they will get the steel to fill them if supplies […]
We are quickly moving to the end of 2020, and I am sure many of you cannot wait to put this year in the rearview mirror. I think we all want our lives back. I was texting with someone in the steel industry who had a different perspective, and maybe now is a good time […]
October heating and cooling equipment shipments increased to 2.08 million units, up 36.3 percent from one year prior, according to recent data from the Air-Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute (AHRI). Total October shipments were up 2.5 percent from the previous month. For comparison, June 2020 saw the highest monthly shipment level in Steel Market Update’s […]
Let’s play “fun facts.” Last week Steel Market Update published our average hot rolled spot price as $885 per ton ($44.25/cwt). With the domestic steel mills asking $900-$960 per ton for new orders of spot (if they are offering at all, which is a separate issue all by itself) SMU expects HRC spot prices to […]
The Associated General Contractors of America filed a lawsuit on Wednesday alleging that the Small Business Administration and the Office of Management and Budget secretly crafted an intrusive questionnaire that gathers irrelevant information on business operations to reassess eligibility for Paycheck Protection Program loans. “The administration has every right, and obligation, to ensure businesses were […]
Steel supplies are so tight these days that $1,000 hot rolled is not out of the question. Which makes predictions of a coming “Steelmageddon” seem that much harder to believe. In fact, 60 percent of the service center and manufacturing executives who responded to Steel Market Update’s questionnaire this week do not view Steelmageddon as […]
Dodge Data & Analytics reports a decline in project planning for new construction in the nonresidential sector. The latest Dodge Momentum Index fell 2.6 percent in November to 123.3 The institutional component of the index fell 4.4 percent, while the commercial component slid 1.6 percent. “Since the expiration of support programs in the CARES Act, […]
Construction employment gained 27,000 jobs in November due to continued strength in residential home building. Jobs in nonresidential increased at a slower rate due to pandemic-induced project cancellations, said the Associated General Contractors of America. The disparity between residential and nonresidential construction widened in November, said AGC Chief Economist Ken Simonson. Residential building and specialty […]
U.S. auto sales slowed in November, dipping to a seasonally adjusted annual pace of 15.55 million units from 16.21 million in October, says Wards Intelligence. The decline was attributed primarily to three fewer selling days and one less weekend during the month. “November 2020 is a prime example of why accounting for selling day differences […]
Total construction expenditures on a rolling 12-month basis were at an all-time high in October, but year-over-year growth has slowed from 8.1 percent in February to 0.5 percent in October. Private constriction expenditures returned to positive growth in October after declining in the months June through September. Steel Market Update analyzes Construction Put In Place […]
On Tuesday and Wednesday of this week, I will be an instructor at our Steel 101: Introduction to Steel Making and Market Fundamentals Workshop. We have a full class with a mixture of steel service centers, manufacturing companies, steel mills, traders, analysts, and suppliers to the industry. I am looking forwarding to discussing supply, demand, […]
Only 30 percent of construction firms in the nation’s metro areas added jobs this year, said the Associated General Contractors in a report on Wednesday. Out of 358 metro areas, construction employment fell in 209 areas and was stagnant in 40 others between October 2019 and October 2020. “The pandemic has devastated the finances for […]
Yesterday (Wednesday, Dec. 2) we hosted one of our SMU Community Chat Webinars. The guest speaker was Josh Spoores, Principal Analyst and editor of the Sheet Monitor for CRU. I thought it was one of the best presentations and discussions we have ever had at one of our webinars. You can see a recording and […]
Industry sentiment inched even higher in the past two weeks now that the presidential election is in the rearview mirror and a COVID vaccine is in sight in the months ahead. The COVID pandemic remains a weight on Future Sentiment, however. Every two weeks, SMU asks steel buyers how they view their company’s chances for […]
Steel buyers continue to feel solidly optimistic about their prospects in the weeks and months ahead, though the limited availability of steel is causing widespread concern. As one service center exec commented this week: “The tightness in supply is what will hinder us from being successful. We can’t make a sale if we can’t get […]
Sales of new single-family homes were flat in October, according to newly released data by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the U.S. Census Bureau. The seasonally adjusted annual rate of 999,000 was 0.3 percent below the September revised rate of 1,002,000, although it soared 41.5 percent above the October 2019 estimate. […]
Residential construction spending expanded for the fifth month in October, rising 2.9 percent led by a 5.6 percent jump in single-family home building. Nonresidential construction, however, was flat in October as the private sector worried about the pandemic and budgets remained tight at the state and local levels. Total construction spending for the month was […]
It is Tuesday, Dec, 1, 2020, and the U.S. has just returned from Thanksgiving. I hope everyone enjoyed their long weekend and did what was necessary to remain safe as we wait for the COVID-19 vaccines to be distributed around the world. There is a light at the end of this long journey we have […]
How much further can lead times extend? We’ll let you know. But there is no sign yet that they have peaked. Lead times for delivery of spot orders continue to stretch with hot rolled now averaging nearly seven weeks and coated steel orders nearly nine and a half weeks. Lead times are an indicator of […]
Lead times for spot orders of hot rolled steel have extended by another half-week as demand persistently outpaces supplies. Lead times for steel deliveries continue to stretch with hot rolled now averaging nearly seven and a half weeks and coated steel orders around nine and a half weeks. Lead times are an indicator of steel demand—longer […]
In a market where supplies of various products are so tight that some buyers say they would be willing to pay almost any price just to get material, there is very little negotiation going on between the mills and their spot market customers. The mills have no reason to bargain when demand is so far […]
There is very little negotiation going on between the mills and their spot market customers as supplies remain extremely tight and buyers are happy just to find available material, even if they have to pay a substantial premium. It has been a seller’s market since September, with the mills enjoying most of the leverage, and […]
Home prices in September surged to their biggest annual gain in six years, says the latest data from S&P Case-Shiller. The S&P Core-Logic Case-Shiller National Home Price NSA Index jumped 7 percent from a 5.8 percent gain in August. “Housing prices were notably – I am tempted to say ‘very’ – strong in September,” said […]
“Market’s great if you have supply.” I was speaking with a service center this afternoon who told me on Monday of this week they were selling spot hot rolled out of inventory at $840 per ton. Then Nucor raised their spot HRC number for February to $840 per ton. Today, all items through this service […]