Construction employment increased by 13,000 jobs in June while the number of jobseekers with construction experience plunged to a record low for the month, the Associated General Contractors of America (AGC) reported. The construction industry would likely have added even more jobs in June had it not been for the shortage of available workers, AGC […]
Rising inflation and higher mortgage rates are slowing traffic of prospective home buyers and putting a damper on builder sentiment. According to the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI), the headline number fell two more points to a level of 67 in June – the lowest HMI reading since June 2020. […]
By CRU Research Analyst James Mills, from CRU’s Multi-Commodity Monthly Report The upside risk to commodity prices created by the war in Ukraine diminished in June as markets assessed the impact of a slower global demand growth outlook, higher inflation expectations, and a continuation of Covid-19 lockdowns in China. Bearish Economic Forecasts Are Downside Risk […]
This week’s SMU survey results show a big jump in the number of respondents reporting dwindling demand. When asked how they are seeing demand for their products, 40% of respondents said demand is declining. That was a jump from the 26% reporting falling demand in the prior two surveys and from only 5% early in […]
US construction spending in May totaled $1.780 trillion at a seasonally adjusted annual rate, 0.1% below April’s upwardly revised $1.783 trillion. This is the first drop since September 2021. The surprising decline month-on-month (MoM) came as a drop in public spending dragged on stalling single-family homebuilding, the Commerce Department reported. The construction spending decline in […]
The US labor market added 372,000 jobs in June, an unexpected boost in hiring. It was ahead of most expectations and only slightly down from May’s revised 384,000 additional payrolls. The result kept the unemployment rate unchanged month on month (MoM) at the pandemic-era low of 3.6%, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported. Payroll gains […]
There has been a broad consensus that wherever the current market bottoms will be higher than pre-pandemic norms. But as our latest survey results indicate, estimates of where that bottom is keep moving lower. About half of respondents to our latest survey think prices will be $800-899 per ton two months from now. In late […]
Steel prices continued to ease each week throughout June, following declines in May as well. Hot rolled prices were $1,190 per ton ($59.50 per cwt) the first week of June. Prices then slipped between $45 and $90 each of the following weeks, with the SMU index averaging $995 per ton as of last Tuesday. (This […]
The rally was fun while it lasted, but new capacity delayed in large part because of Covid has arrived or soon will, popular analyst Timna Tanners said. And it will coincide with some demand weakness. The result: “steelmageddon” (aka “sheet storm”) might have been delayed. But it has finally arrived, she said. “Here we are with capacity starting […]
Earlier this week SMU canvassed steel buyers on a variety of subjects, ranging from steel prices to supply and demand to new mill capacity. We are sharing the comments we received in each buyers’ own words, rather than summarizing them in ours. Want to have your voice heard and share your comments with SMU? Contact Brett@SteelMarketUpdate.com […]
US Steel plans to stop making steel at its Granite City Works near St. Louis in the second half of 2024, a company spokeswoman told Steel Market Update on Tuesday. The Pittsburgh-based steelmaker expects that the mill’s blast furnaces will switch over to pig iron production as part of a deal with SunCoke Energy Inc., […]
New home sales posted a solid gain in May following four months of declines. The increase came despite strong headwinds, including rising mortgage rates and high sales prices. The reason: buyers rushing into the market in advance of the Federal Reserve’s June interest rate hike. Sales of newly built, single-family homes in May increased 10.7% to a […]
Steel Market Update’s Steel Buyers Sentiment Index fell 11 points to an 18-month low last week, the largest survey-to-survey decline since April 2020. Our Future Sentiment Index also declined significantly last week, following another large decline four weeks prior. SMU surveys steel buyers every other week and asks how they view their chances of success […]
Nucor Corp. completed its $3 billion acquisition of C.H.I. Overhead Doors from KKR & Co. Inc. C.H.I. is a manufacturer of residential and commercial overhead and rolling doors, also known as garage doors. It serves US and Canadian markets. The deal expands the Charlotte, N.C.-based steelmaker’s long-term strategy to expand its manufacturing model to provide […]
Demand for design services from architecture firms in the US continued to expand in May, though the score was down three points month-on-month (MoM). May marked the 16th consecutive month of growth following the pandemic-induced downturn in 2020. The May AIA Architecture Billings Index registered 53.5, down slightly from April’s score of 56.5, according to […]
Despite falling prices and declining lead times for galvanized sheet, overall demand is still generally strong and a good reason for optimism, according to members of the Heating, Air-Conditioning & Refrigeration Distributors International on this month’s call of HARDI’s Sheet Metal/Air Handling Council. One HARDI member in the Rocky Mountain region noted that his company […]
Austal USA has won another contract with the US Navy. This latest design and construction contract is valued at $128 million. Austal will build a medium auxiliary floating dry dock for the US Navy at its shipbuilding facility in Mobile, Ala. The dry dock will have an overall length of 694 feet, an overall pontoon […]
The 2022 SMU Steel Summit Conference, which will be held at the Georgia International Convention Center in Atlanta, is just 63 days away. The dates for this year’s conference are Aug. 22-24. We begin with a pre-Summit program at 9 a.m on Aug. 22. The official start of the conference will be at 1 p.m. The […]
The 2022 SMU Steel Summit Conference, which will be held at the Georgia International Convention Center in Atlanta, is just 63 days away. The dates for this year’s conference are Aug. 22-24. We begin with a pre-Summit program at 9 a.m on Aug. 22. The official start of the conference will be at 1 p.m. The […]
More than three-quarters of US states added construction jobs over the past 12 months ended May 2022, though momentum has slowed with less than half adding jobs month-on-month (MoM) in May, according to the Associated General Contractors of America (AGC) analysis of federal employment data. AGC said monthly employment gains lagged in May, with just […]
By Greg Wittbecker, Advisor, CRU Group The Saga of the Alcoa INTALCO Aluminum Smelter In April 2020, Alcoa announced its decision to close its Ferndale, Wash., primary aluminum smelter known as INTALCO. This smelter was built in 1966 by the French aluminum giant, Pechiney, and at its peak produced 284,000 metric tons per year. In […]
By CRU Economist Veronika Akhmadieva, from CRU’s Global Economic Outlook With a higher-than-expected headline CPI inflation reading of 8.6% in May, the Fed opted for an even more aggressive monetary tightening. After a 50 bps increase in the federal funds rate in May – which is the highest increase since 2000 – the Fed raised […]
By CRU Senior China Economist Henry Hao, from CRU’s Global Economic Outlook and China Macro Monthly In May, overall economic activity in China has improved marginally as the relaxation of Covid-19 restrictions led to the resumption of production in late May. Export and infrastructure investment have regained momentum. However, prospects for construction remain weak. While the contraction […]
Editor’s note: Steel Market Update is please to share this abbreviated Premium content with our Executive members. For information on how to upgrade to a Premium-level subscription, email Info@SteelMarketUpdate.com. If you are part of a service center company and interested in becoming a data provider, please contact Estelle.Tran@CRUGroup.com. Flat Rolled = 54.7 Shipping Days of Supply […]
The following article on the hot-rolled coil (HRC), scrap and financial futures markets was written by Jack Marshall of Crunch Risk LLC. Here is how Jack saw trading over the past week: Hot Rolled HR futures are coming back to life after a quiet spell in May. Month to date in June more than 225,000 […]
Strong demand is expected to continue benefiting Irving, Texas-based Commercial Metals Co. (CMC). The steelmaker posted strong results for its fiscal third quarter ended May 31, which president and CEO Barbara Smith attributed to strong operational execution and robust market conditions both in North America and Europe. The company’s fiscal Q3 net earnings of $312.4 […]
Housing starts tumbled in May as the construction sector faces strong headwinds. Rising interest rates, ongoing building material supply chain troubles, and ballooning construction costs further delayed construction projects and raise home building costs. Overall housing starts fell 14.4% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.55 million units in May from an upwardly revised […]
Despite inflation, rising interest rates, and faltering equities markets, the outlook is not all doom and gloom when it comes to the metals markets, says Rick Marabito, CEO of service center group Olympic Steel. In fact, the outlook for demand and consolidation is actually quite good, he told attendees of this week’s Steel Market Update […]
Steel Dynamics Inc. (SDI) expects its best second-quarter earnings to date for the three-month period ended June 30. Record results are projected despite lower average flat-rolled steel selling prices. The Fort Wayne, Ind.-based steelmaker expects earnings of $6.66-6.37 per diluted share in the second quarter, according to guidance figures released on Thursday, June 16. That’s […]
Flat Rolled = 54.7 Shipping Days of Supply Plate = 55.2 Shipping Days of Supply Flat Rolled US service center flat rolled inventories rose in May as many service centers reported signs of slowing demand. At the end of May, service centers carried 54.7 shipping days of supply on an adjusted basis, according to SMU […]