Final Thoughts
Final Thoughts
Written by John Packard
July 1, 2015
I want to wish everyone in the United States a happy and safe 4th of July holiday weekend.
This evening’s edition of Steel Market Update is what I consider “lite” due to the limited number of articles as I am trying to give the SMU team some time off to enjoy the long weekend.
Steel Market Update’s offices will not be manned tomorrow (Friday, July 3rd) but Diana and I will be monitoring our voice mail and emails and returning calls as needed. If you have a question or an issue do not hesitate to contact our office (800-432-3475) and we will do our best to handle your issue.
Our website operates 24 hours a day no matter what holiday is upon us. Our early bird registration for our 5th Steel Summit Conference will end on July 15th. You can register online or through our office. You are also welcome to send us an email requesting an invoice and we will honor the early bird pricing. Send your emails to: info@SteelMarketUpdate.com
Thank you again for your business as it is truly appreciated by all of us at Steel Market Update.
John Packard, Publisher
John Packard
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Final Thoughts
We had an October surprise here at SMU on Wednesday. I was working from the CRU office in Pittsburgh, and the internet connection briefly went out. As luck would have it, that happened smack in the middle of a live Community Chat webinar. Fortunately, my colleague David Schollaert stepped in, Zekelman Industries CEO Barry Zekelman rolled with the punches – and the show went on. Could there be any more October surprises in store for us and for the steel market?
Final Thoughts
We just wrapped up another Steel 101 workshop, easily the most hands-on industry workshop on steelmaking and market fundamentals, in this humble opinion. Last week on Tuesday and Wednesday, SMU’s Steel 101 was held in Starkville, Miss.
Final Thoughts
Everybody has an opinion about politics these days. More importantly for our readers, though, every business has a bottom line. A popular question in our most recent steel buyers survey asked how uncertainty around the upcoming US presidential election could affect that line.
Final Thoughts
I’m trying to make sure this is not a TL;DR Final Thoughts. As a journalism school professor once told me, ‘No one but your mom reads more than 1,000 words.’ Also, as the old adage goes, a picture is worth a thousand as well. With that in mind, below are a couple of charts that I think go a long way toward explaining how prices and lead times have been relatively stable despite concerns about demand.
Final Thoughts
It’s another week of big headlines for the world writ large – an expanding war in the Middle East, another potentially catastrophic hurricane – and not much going on in the world of steel prices. “Call me Stevie Wonder, I see nothing.” That’s how one service center executive described the current sheet market. There seems to be almost a competition among some of our Community Chat guests and contributors to outdo each other in flowery ways to say, “