I have received a number of comments on the LinkedIn posts that I have put out there over the weekend. I shared our “Black Swan” article on my personal LinkedIn account as well as our Steel Market Update LinkedIn group account. I also received a question about the “average margin for a service center” that […]
The Tenth District joins the Dallas and Richmond Federal Reserves in reporting slower manufacturing activity in the region. The Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City in its April Manufacturing Survey reported its month-over-month composite index was 7 in April, after readings of 20 in March and 14 in February. Most of the indexes that make […]
Is the newly initiated Section 232 the Black Swan event that will remove steel supply from the market and tip the balance of supply/demand in favor of the domestic steel mills, thus pushing prices to levels not seen since 2008? There should not be any doubt that the make-up of the Trump Administration, coupled with […]
Durable goods orders rose to a lower rate in March than expected. New orders rose 0.7 percent to $238.7 billion, well under the Bloomberg forecast of 1.3 percent. Orders for core capital goods (non-military capital goods minus aircraft that are used in GDP calculation) rose 0.2 percent, less than the 0.5 percent predicted. Automotive vehicles […]
Produced by: Congressional Research Service (CRS) Report & Analysis On April 20, 2017, President Trump issued a Presidential Memorandum (“Memorandum”) directing the Secretary of Commerce (“Secretary”) to prioritize investigating the effects of steel imports on national security pursuant to Section 232(b) of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962. Under the Act, if the Secretary determines […]
The industry is abuzz with all kinds of speculation as to how the Section 232 investigation will impact traders and steel buyers. Another Section 232 was announced and should have been signed by President Trump today covering aluminum. I was texting with one of the steel mills this morning about their access to aluminum for […]
This week the Trump administration initiated an investigation on the impact of steel imports on national security under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962. Section 232 has been initiated 26 times within the last 55 years but only two (1979 and 1983) found a threat to national security, both involving crude oil. […]
Both manufacturing companies and service centers are reporting distributor spot prices as being in a state of transition. The percentage of manufacturing companies reporting service centers as raising spot flat rolled steel prices has dropped from 50 percent at the beginning of April to 19 percent. At the same time 19 percent of the manufacturing […]
AK Steel reported net income of $62.5 million for its best first quarter since 2008. Shipments declined to 1,486,900 tons year-over-year due to intentionally reduced sales of lower margin products. Net sales increased one percent from Q1 2016 to $1.53 billion as a result of increases in average selling price on both spot and contract […]
This report summarized seven data sources that describe the state of manufacturing in the US. We have reported on most of these separately in our Steel Market Update publications therefore will be brief in this summary. We don’t expect these data sources to all point in the same direction but our intention in summarizing them […]
Two important Federal Reserve reports on manufacturing came out this week from Dallas and Richmond. The Dallas Federal Reserve reports that growth in the manufacturing sector continued for the tenth consecutive month but at a slower pace in April. The production index of the Texas Manufacturing Outlook Survey dipped three points to 15.4. New orders […]
Once each quarter we publish the official statistics for Chinese GDP, industrial production, consumer price inflation and fixed asset investment. Currently available data is through the first quarter except for CPI which is through February. Many analysts don’t believe these Party self-serving figures but we include them in our reports because of the importance of […]
Steel Market Update has been working on trying to get a better understanding of the pipe and tube business. We had a conversation with Barry Zekelman, Chairman and CEO of Zekelman Industries, the largest privately held pipe and tube manufacturer in the country. Our initial conversation was about foreign steel imports and how they were […]
Last week, Steel Market Update (SMU) conducted our mid-April flat rolled steel market trends analysis. Over the course of the week we invited 670 individuals representing approximately 650 companies to participate in our survey. The breakout of the participants was a little different than what we have been seeing over the course of a number […]
There have been a slew of Executive Orders coming out of the Trump White House aimed at impacting manufacturing and the steel industry. The “Buy American, Hire American” order is just one of the orders from last week that the manufacturing and steel industry need to watch and understand the potential impacts to your company. […]
Since Thursday, when President Donald Trump signed his executive order calling for an analysis of the steel industry from a “national security” perspective, I have been swamped with emails and phone calls questioning what is going on and what do I think about the chances of something happening that will impact the amount of foreign […]
The Steel Market Update (SMU) Steel Buyers Sentiment Index continues at very optimistic levels for those involved in the flat rolled steel industry in the United States and Canada. At the same time, our index is no longer making new high’s either as a single data point or on our three-month moving average (3MMA). SMU […]
The following article on the hot rolled coil (HRC) futures markets was written by David Feldstein. As the Flack Global Metals director of risk management, Dave is an active participant in the hot rolled coil (HRC) futures market and we believe he will provide insightful commentary and trading ideas to our readers. Besides writing futures […]
Over the course of the last four days Steel Market Update (SMU) has been conducting our mid-April flat rolled steel market trends analysis. We finished earlier this afternoon and we are providing the results of some of our findings to our readers this evening. Lead times, which is the length of time it takes to […]
Buyers and sellers of flat rolled steel associated with manufacturing companies and service centers are reporting the steel mills as being more willing to negotiate flat rolled steel spot prices. Based on the responses from those taking our survey, 59 percent reported the domestic steel mills as willing to negotiate hot rolled prices, 76 percent […]
HAMILTON, ON, April 19, 2017 /CNW/ – Stelco, the name under which U. S. Steel Canada Inc. carries on business (“Stelco” or the “Company”), announces that it and Bedrock Industries Group LLC (Bedrock) have reached an agreement in principle (the “Agreement”) with the Stelco salaried employees and retirees and certain others represented by court-appointed representatives […]
Steel Market Update has been proactively writing about our expectations for Executive Orders and their impact on foreign steel imports. It is clear that the steel lobby has the ear of the president and this has to be quite frustrating to the same companies he is trying to convince to come back to the United […]
PITTSBURGH, April 18, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ –The United Steelworkers (USW) today issued the following statement on President Trump’s executive order to promote Buy American/Hire American: “The United States has laws on the books that promote the utilization of domestic materials and equipment when federal tax dollars are expended for certain projects. Taxpayers want their tax dollars […]
Steel Market Update participates in a monthly steel conference call hosted by HARDI (Heating, Air-conditioning, and Refrigeration Distributors International) for their members. The HARDI conference call is dedicated to a better understanding of the galvanized steel market. The participants are wholesalers, service centers and manufacturing companies who either buy or sell galvanized sheet products used […]
Manufacturing activity cooled in New York State in April after two exceptionally strong months. The general business index of the Empire State Manufacturing Survey fell eleven points to register 5.2. The new orders index dropped fourteen points to register 7.0, settling at a more sustainable level of growth. Shipments continued to increase at a moderate […]
Freight shipment on the seas, rivers, rails and by truck moved without many complications in the past few weeks. The seaborne freight market spot rates are recovering and foreign steel industries are boosting cargos of coal and iron ore. Spot rates have caught up with demand for the trucking industry and rail traffic was up. […]
We managed to squeeze in an extra day off for our crew due to the Easter Holiday. So, if you were looking for a newsletter on Sunday evening – sorry, we skipped a day. But, we are making up for it today with an issue that if you printed it you could use as a […]
Steel Market Update is asked many times where we think flat rolled steel prices are heading. Our current SMU Price Momentum Indicator is at “Neutral” which means we believe the market to be in transition and, prices could move in either direction from this point. We adjusted our indicator just recently from Higher to Neutral […]
The Coalition for a Prosperous America (CPA) announced that, effective April 11, 2017, Daniel DiMicco will serve as Chairman. CPA is a nonpartisan coalition of domestic manufacturing, organized labor, ranching and farming focused on U.S. policies that ensure fair trade for Americans. DiMicco was the former CEO of Nucor Corp and a member of President […]
First, a reminder that Friday is Good Friday and Sunday is Easter Sunday. Our office will be open for part of Good Friday since I have been traveling extensively and I have a need to catch up. Sunday is a holiday and we will not publish an issue on Sunday evening. The next time we […]