Flat rolled steel pricing momentum reversed course due to the price increase announcement led by ArcelorMittal and followed by virtually all of the domestic and Canadian steel mills. We moved the SMU Price Momentum Indicator first to Neutral and then a week later to Higher in response to the increase announcements and the fact that […]
March was the month that saw the bottom to the flat rolled steel pricing cycle and signs of the first bounce as prices began moving higher. We are finding our monthly analysis of pricing fascinating as many become consumed by the weekly numbers and forget the bigger picture. Weekly gyrations many times equal little change […]
When markets start to move each steel index will pick up the information in different ways. It is important to understand each index methodology, how often the markets are canvassed and how deep the reporting resources are. CRU indices are based on actual verifiable transactions from both steel mills and buyers. Platts takes into consideration […]
Usually the news about price increase announcements is regarding the ability of the steel mills to collect all, or a portion, of the announced flat rolled price increases. With the latest announcements made last week led by ArcelorMittal on Monday and then followed by the rest of the industry as the week progressed, the question […]
Has the flat rolled steel price turn already begun? According to Platts it has, as they moved both hot rolled pricing and cold rolled pricing higher on their index during the later part of the week. Both CRU and SMU reported flat rolled steel prices earlier in the week as either flat or lower than […]
The following article on hot rolled futures (HRC), #1 busheling futures (BUS) as well as information regarding the iron ore spot pricing and futures trading in China is written by Andre Marshall, CEO of Crunch Risk, LLC and the instructor for Steel Market Update’s Managing Price Risk workshop series. Our new: Managing Price Risk 2: […]
The indexes are beginning to spread out, especially on benchmark hot rolled coil pricing. Steel Market Update saw HRC prices down $15 per ton this past week, SteelBenchmarker was $16 per ton lower (but they only produce prices twice per month), CRU down $5 and Platts held the line even with the previous week. The […]
The following article on the financial, hot rolled coil futures, busheling scrap futures and iron ore markets is written by Andre Marshall, CEO of Crunchrisk, LLC and our Managing Price Risk 1 and 2 instructor. Financial Markets: Today was not a good one, a repeat of last week when the market retraced on the back […]
An ousted president, deadly violence, military insurgence and a possible secession—the crisis in the Ukraine has been moving at an alarming speed in the last several weeks. As the Ukraine struggles to create a new government, economic sanctions are increasingly being considered by the global powers to sway preferred outcomes. The US and the EU […]
Every week Steel Market Update analyzes a number of the flat rolled steel price indexes and provides the analysis to our Executive and Premium Level members. For our Monthly subscribers we produce an analysis of what happened to steel prices in total during the course of, in this case, the month of February. The numbers […]
This article was originally published on Thursday, February 27th and was written by Andre Marshall, CEO of Crunch Risk, LLC. Andre is an expert in the futures/derivatives markets. Financial Markets: Two weeks back on the 13th the S+P 500 was approx 1825, and, as I mentioned, headed to test 1846 again. We bounced of that […]
Steel Market Update (SMU) Steel Buyers Sentiment Index averaged +39.5 which was down from the +43.5 reported during the month of January. Our SMU Price Momentum Indicator went from Neutral to Lower as we adjusted our indicator to reflect the dropping steel prices which we expect to continue over the next 30 days. Benchmark hot […]
Financial Markets: Two weeks back on the 13th the S+P 500 was approx 1825, and, as I mentioned, headed to test 1846 again. We bounced of that 1846 on the 19th only to retest it again on the 24th with better results, reaching our 1858 all time high. Since then, we are essentially sideways in […]
Olympic Steel reported a net loss of $1.4 million for the fourth quarter 2013. Net sales for the quarter were $290.5 million, nearly even with Q4 2012 sales of $291.7 million Full year results showed an increase in net income to $7.6 million. Full year sales declined 8.7 percent to $1.3 billion in 2013, shy […]
Steel prices continue to drop on most, if not all, of the indexes followed by Steel Market Update. Benchmark hot rolled coil was referenced at $645 per ton by both Steel Market Update and Platts. CRU had HRC pegged a few dollars higher at $649 per ton. SteelBenchmarker, which is part of World Steel Dynamics, […]
A stronger performance is expected in all end-markets for 2014 said Reliance Steel & Aluminum in the company’s recent conference call. The following are some comments by Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board David Hannah and Gregg Mollins, President and Chief Operating Officer on the steel market and industry. Regarding pricing Gregg Mollins […]
The move by the domestic mills to reach $700+ per ton hot rolled is nothing but a blur in the rear view mirror according to the various steel indexes followed by Steel Market Update. Flat rolled steel prices fell across the board on hot rolled, cold rolled, galvanized and Galvalume steels this past week. The […]
When I last wrote I mentioned we would test the S & P 1720-1750 zone before attempting a rebound. We reached a 1737 low and we are now in rebound mode these last two weeks with the market last at 1829 zone. We are headed back to test the highs at 1850 to see if […]
On Monday, Steel Market Update revised our SMU Price Momentum Indicator from Neutral to Lower. The adjustment means we anticipate flat rolled steel prices will move lower over the next 30 to 60 days. At the time of the change, SMU benchmark hot rolled coil was published at $660 per ton. The last adjustment to […]
The various indexes we follow on a regular basis all had prices on benchmark hot rolled moving lower this past week. Platts took the biggest leap moving from $675 to $660 in one week. SMU dropped $5 per ton to $660. Plate prices rose at Platts but dropped with CRU. The result is we are […]
On January 14, Steel Market Update (SMU) adjusted our Price Momentum Indicator from Higher to Neutral. This means we see steel market pricing at this moment as either in transition or moving sideways over the next 30 days. With ferrous scrap prices now weakening, lead times shortening and all of the available capacity back in […]
The two strongest products during the month of January were cold rolled (fully annealed) and plate. Both of these products saw spot price appreciation during the month. Hot rolled was a mixed bag with SMU now holding the lowest average at $665 per ton as of last week. At one point during the month every […]
Steel Market Update follows a number of indexes and their average price points on hot rolled, cold rolled, galvanized, Galvalume as well as plate. Steel Market Update (SMU) found prices slipping on three of the four products we currently index – hot rolled, galvanized and Galvalume. CRU also picked up some modestly weaker numbers as […]
During the month of January Steel Market Update (SMU) adjusted our Price Momentum Indicator from Higher to Neutral. Benchmark hot rolled prices averaged $673 per ton ($33.65/cwt) according to the Steel Market Update index. CRU posted their monthly average at $676 per ton ($33.80/cwt). You can find the balance of our weekly and monthly averages […]
The following HRC futures article is written by Andre Marshall, CEO of Crunchrisk, LLC and the instructor of our new Managing Price Risk 2 – Strategies & Execution workshop. Well the S+P 500 took a turn down starting Thursday and Friday of last week, dropping from 1850 down to a 1770 low yesterday. We have […]
For the first time in what seems like forever, the four indexes followed by Steel Market Update, as well as our own, have benchmark hot rolled coil at the same average during the same week. Hot rolled coil was reported by all indexes this past week at $675 per ton ($33.75/cwt). The similarities stopped there, […]
The most straightforward way for a flat rolled steel buyer to fix the cost of steel out into the future is to simply buy steel now and hold it in inventory. The downside to this strategy is, of course, the inventory holding cost. A second way to fix the price of steel is to negotiate […]
One of our readers asked us on Monday morning, why the discrepancies between the CRU, Platts and SMU indices? During the discussion we were reminded that the discrepancies did not always exist. We pulled up a graph with the three hot rolled index price points from the three indexes and as you can see the […]
Two of the indexes followed by Steel Market Update (three including our own indices) saw prices as beginning to drop for the first time in many weeks. The average hot rolled number dropped $3 per ton to $678. The cold rolled results were mixed with SMU and SteelBenchmarker (which is only published twice per month) […]
Many, perhaps most, steel buyers negotiate a new price for flat rolled steel each time they place a purchase order. Other buyers will negotiate a price for all their steel needs over a fixed period (as much as a year) and then, when they require steel, release purchase orders at this fixed price. However, there’s […]