Final Thoughts
Final Thoughts
Written by John Packard
April 17, 2015
We will begin our next flat rolled steel market analysis (survey for those of you new to SMU) on Monday morning. Invitations will be sent our by SurveyMonkey.com around 8 AM ET on Monday. If you receive an invitation please click on the link or button contained in the message to access your questionnaire.
Registrations continue for our next Steel 101 workshop which will be held in Merrillville, Indiana just outside of Chicago. The dates for the workshop are May 19 & 20th and the workshop will include a tour of the NLMK USA steel mill located in Portage, Indiana. The NLMK mill is a mini-mill, which means it uses an electric arc furnace (EAF) to reduce scrap to new steel. You can find more information about our program, instructors, costs and how to register in the Events section of our website. If you have any issues or if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to give us a call: 800-432-3475.
In this evening’s issue we have included the most recent currency article which is normally provided to our Premium level members approximately once every three weeks. The value of local currencies against the U.S. dollar is one of the main reasons why commodities (and steel) are having issues. The stronger the dollar the more attractive our market looks to other countries. If you would like to learn more about Premium level membership please contact our office: 800-432-3475 or info@SteelMarketUpdate.com. We will gladly provide a free trial period and we also provide special pricing for existing Executive level members who wish to upgrade their accounts.
As always your business is truly appreciated by all of us here at Steel Market Update.
John Packard, Publisher
John Packard
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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.