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 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 […]
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 […]
The HARDI wholesalers who participate in the distribution of galvanized steel into the HVAC industry held their monthly conference call this morning to discuss the steel market. At the time of the last call held in late January, AK Steel had just announced a $40 per ton price increase and the HARDI members were waiting […]
Written by: Sandy Williams The Arkansas Senate and House questioned a panel of economic development and finance officials last week on plans for the $1.1 billion Big River Steel project in Osceola, Ark. The meetings were a preliminary step in legislature approval of a $125 million bond issue for the proposed steel plant. The state’s […]
Written by: Sandy Williams John Deere earnings set a record in the first quarter of 2013, topping out at $650 million with a spectacular rise in earnings per share of 27 percent. John Deere net sales of the worldwide equipment operations rose 11 percent in the first quarter of 2013 to $6.793 billion. John Deere […]
Written by: John Packard & Sandy Williams “Clear preference for cash” ThyssenKrupp AG officials declined to talk about the Steel Americas sale during their 1st Quarter 2013 earnings conference call, but CFO Guido Kerkhoff said he can say that the company has a “clear preference for cash” and that the bidders understand that message. The […]
Written by: Brad Clark, Director of Steel Trading, Kataman Metals It appears that the market finally capitulated this week with the physical market taking a turn south as recent price hikes seem to have failed. After a couple of weeks with consumers, distributors, producers of coils eyeing each other up to see who will blink […]
Written by: John Packard Steel Market Update did not move our Price Momentum Indicator out of Neutral where we have been “stuck” for the past 10 – now going on 11 weeks. The market lacks clear direction – or maybe a better way to view it is the market lacks personality. This is perhaps best […]
Written by: Peter Wright The Economic Outlook for 2013 CBO expects that economic activity will expand slowly this year, with real GDP growing by just 1.4 percent. That slow growth reflects a combination of ongoing improvement in underlying economic factors and fiscal tightening that has already begun or is scheduled to occur—including the expiration of […]
Written by: Sandy Williams U.S. Steel announced today that Patrick J. Mullarkey has been named the new plant manager of Fairfield Tubular Operations in Birmingham, Ala. Mullarkey will succeed Dennis Quirk who has retired following 36 years of service. “Dennis has served our company well during times of critical change with his extensive and varied […]
Dear Editor, Once again, both Nucor and US Steel in their quarterly earnings calls partially blamed imports for their less than stellar results, and frankly, this is getting old. For the record, it is NOT illegal to import steel into the United States. It might be illegal if those imports were dumped (meaning sold below […]
Written by: Sandy Williams U.S. Steel celebrated the start-up of a new battery of environmentally friendly coke ovens at its Clairton plant on Thursday. The $500 million improvement project replaces three 50 year old coke ovens with new technology designed to significantly reduce emissions and improve the region’s air quality. The C Battery construction was […]
Written by: Peter Wright Raw steel production in 2012 was 97.8 million tons, up by 3.5 million tons from 2011. Steel mill shipments direct to the construction industry in 2012 were 15.6 million tons, (Figure 1). Shipments from service centers and converters to the construction industry are not classified but by proportion are about 12 […]
Written by: John Packard & Sandy Williams Steel Market Update is adding more strength to our newsletter and website team. Peter Wright will be joining SMU in a writing/analysis capacity with special emphasis on the development of steel and economic indicators which will be of value in forecasting future steel needs in both the flat […]
Written by: Brad Clark, Director of Steel Trading, Kataman Metals Settlement prices have barely moved this week as the recent price hikes have done little to inspire the futures market. After a couple of month of sideways movements in the physical market the last couple of weeks have seen the market take a steep turn […]
As if the south is not already flooded with flat rolled steel mills, Arkansas Governor Mike Beebe and Big River Steel CEO John Correnti announced earlier today that if the bonds are approved by the Arkansas legislature a new $1 billion steel mill will be built in Arkansas. Details were lacking regarding the type of […]
Written by: Sandy Williams Nucor Corporation announced today that fourth quarter earnings were $136.9 million and flat compared to net earnings of $137.1 million in the same quarter of 2011. Earnings were up in the fourth quarter from $110.3 million in the third quarter of 2012. Total net earnings for 2012 were $504.6 million, compared […]
Written by: Sandy Williams Steel Dynamics doubled its fourth quarter earnings from last year. Net income was $60.57 in fourth quarter 2012 compared to $30.20 million in 2011, and $13 million in third quarter 2012. Results included a positive tax adjustment of $16 million. Steel shipments for the quarter dropped slightly from 1.464 million tons […]
Written by: Sandy Williams AK Steel reported net loss of 230.4 million for the fourth quarter 2012 compared to a net loss of 193.9 million in fourth quarter of 2011. Results include a pre-tax pension corridor charge of $157.3 million and a non-cash income tax charge of $96.4 million. Excluding these charges AK Steel […]
On Thursday I attended the American Institute for International Steel (AIIS) West Coast Dinner in Long Beach, California. Many thanks to David Phelps, president of the AIIS and his West Coast team who did a great job with the dinner and the program. A couple of quick notes to share with our readers, Marcel Van […]
Written by: Sandy Williams New construction starts leapt 23 percent in December to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $530 billion according to data released by McGraw-Hill Construction. Total constructions starts for 2012 grew 6 percent to $463.6 billion for a moderate gain at a faster rate from the previous two years. Construction growth overall […]
Written by: Sandy Williams The Architecture Billings Index showed growth for the fifth straight month in December. The American Institute of Architects reported the ABI score at 52, down slightly from 53.2 in November. The ABI reflects the approximate nine to twelve month lag time between architecture billings and construction spending. The score reflects an […]
Steel Market Update (SMU) participates in a monthly conference call with HARDI wholesalers who sell galvanized sheet and coil into the HVAC mechanical contractors and related industries for residential and commercial construction applications. The purpose of the call is to discuss steel trends which may impact their regional businesses – this includes domestic mill and […]
Steel Market Update is a member of an association connected to the construction industry called HARDI. HARDI stands for Heating, Air-conditioning & Refrigeration Distributors International. HARDI and The Institute for Trend Research (ITR), an economic forecasting company, work together to gather economic data to provide a forecast to the HARDI members located in the United […]
Written by: Sandy Williams Steel Market Update is a member of an association connected to the construction industry called HARDI. HARDI stands for Heating, Air-conditioning & Refrigeration Distributors International. HARDI and The Institute for Trend Research (ITR), an economic forecasting company, work together to gather economic data to provide a forecast to the HARDI members […]
Written by: Sandy Williams Housing starts rose at the fastest pace since 2008, showing continued recovery in the housing market. The Commerce Department said housing starts were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 954,000, up 12.1 percent from the revised November estimate and up 36.9 percent from the December rate in 2011. Starts of […]
Written by: Sandy Williams At least eight new steel plants are under construction in Asia (not including India) that will increase the annual output capacity of steel in Asia by 100 million tonnes within the next few years. Currently China accounts for nearly 50 percent of global steel demand with its own annual output capacity […]
Written by: Sandy Williams Metal forming companies are expecting a spike in business conditions in the next three months according to survey data released Wednesday by the Precision Metalforming Association (PMA). Survey data shows 32 percent of participants are expecting conditions to get better in the next three months (up from 22 percent in December) […]
Written by: Andre Marshall, Crunchrisk LLC Financial Markets On the equities markets we hit a new 5 year high reaching 1485 on SP 500 today. In this current rally you might recall our target point for this move is 1488 and so we may be near a point for a little retracement. If this current move […]