Final Thoughts
Final Thoughts
Written by John Packard
May 12, 2014
I am getting excited by the progress we are making on our September Steel Summit conference. I have been talking to as many manufacturing companies, service centers, steel mills and trading companies as we strive to put on an exceptional program with quality speakers who will provide valuable content. Easy to say, not so easy to do. But, I think we are well on our way. I have advised previously that one of our dynamic duos will be Ms. Timna Tanners of Bank of America Merrill Lynch and John Anton of IHS Global Insight. It is rare that the two of them agree on their price and market forecasts. I will be interested to see if 2014 is any different. The dates to mark on your calendar are: September 3 & 4, 2014 – destination: Atlanta, Georgia.
Today just seems to be import day as the news cycle is hitting foreign steel. We are staying on top of the subject and it is one we will also try to cover in our conference in September.
I want to take a moment to welcome our newest members and I want to remind them that we try to be an accessible and responsive company. If you have any questions, suggestions, ideas or articles you would like to share with us we can be reached at: info@SteelMarketUpdate.com or by phone: 800-432-3475.
As always I want to take a moment to thank all of our customers for your business which is truly appreciated by all of us here at Steel Market Update.
John Packard, Publisher
John Packard
Read more from John PackardLatest in Final Thoughts
Final Thoughts
It’s once again A Tale of Two Cities in the steel market. Some are almost euphoric about Trump’s victory. Others, some rather bearish, are more focused on the day-to-day market between now and Inauguration Day on Jan. 20.
Final Thoughts
One of the perhaps unintentional perks of being a trade journalist is the opportunity to travel and cover an array of industry conferences and events. Some I've attended have been at fun locations, like Palm Springs and Tampa, Fla. Others have been in more practical locations, like SMU’s Steel Summit in Atlanta and American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) and Steel Manufacturers Association (SMA) meetings in Washington, D.C.
Final Thoughts
t this point in the game I think what we can say about Nippon Steel’s proposed buy of Pittsburgh-based U.S. Steel is that it will go through, it won’t go through, or the outcome will be something new and completely unexpected. Then again, I’m probably still missing a few options.
Final Thoughts
President-elect Donald Trump continues to send shockwaves through the political establishment (again). And steel markets and ferrous scrap markets continue to be, well, anything but shocking. As the French writer Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr wrote in 1849, "The more things change, the more they stay the same." (I thought the quote might have been Yankees catcher Yogi Berra in 1949. Google taught me something new today.)
Final Thoughts
President-elect Donald Trump will officially retake the White House on Jan. 20. I’ve been getting questions about how his administration’s policies might reshape the steel industry and domestic manufacturing. I covered the tumult and norm busting of Trump's first term: Section 232, Section 301, USMCA - and that's just on the trade policy side of things. It's safe to say that we'll have no shortage of news in 2025 when it comes to trade and tariffs.