Final Thoughts
Final Thoughts
Written by John Packard
May 22, 2015
About a week ago I asked if our readers would mind if we switched from a three day a week schedule to twice a week plus supplemental issues as warranted. We provided a link and to date we have received a modest number of respondents with 90 percent responding they did not have objections to a change and 10 percent advising they would have objections. The total number of respondents to date is not large enough for me to make any decisions and so I am going to leave the survey, which consist of one question, open. I am not tracking specific respondents so anyone who does respond will be anonymous.
Here is the link to the following question: Would you be willing to accept SMU publishing our Executive newsletter twice per week (instead of the current three) with the provision that extra issues will be produced as needed for important breaking news or special analysis?
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/FD93JVZ
We continue to boost our program having added two more presenters to what is already an impressive program. I encourage everyone reading our newsletter to mark your calendars and block off August 31st (travel day), September 1st and September 2nd with a note “must be in Atlanta for SMU Steel Summit”. For those who already know that you will be attending registration is open and we have a special $200 early bird discount for those who register prior to July 1, 2015. You can register online or you are welcome to contact our office: 800-432-3475.
If you have any questions you are welcome to contact me directly: John@SteelMarketUpdate.com or by phone: 800-432-3475.
As always your business 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
“We’ll always have Paris,” as the famous line in Casablanca goes. And this month, the global steel industry did as well. The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Steel Committee met in the City of Lights earlier this month. There was also a meeting of the Global Forum addressing excess steel capacity.
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.)