Economy

A Closer Look at September 2016
Written by John Packard
October 2, 2016
Hot rolled coils settled September on the CME at $542 per ton while Platts ($539 average) and SMU ($530 average) saw market prices as being weaker. The SMU Price Momentum Index pointed toward lower prices throughout the month and ended the month suggesting prices will continue to slide as we move into the month of October.
Buyers and sellers of flat rolled steel became slightly less optimistic about their company’s ability to be successful in both the current market as well as three to six months out into the future. Our three month moving average has been trending lower over the past three months.
Ferrous scrap prices dropped in September and are poised for another round of decreases for October.
Zinc prices have been rising closing the month at $1.0783 per pound. The monthly average was $1.0424 up slightly from the $1.0349 reported as the average for the month of August.
SMU Service Center Apparent Excess (flat rolled inventories) increased to +234,000 tons from the +48,000 tons our model calculated during the month of August.
The latest final census import data released during the month of September was for the month of July which came in at 3,266,000 net tons. This represents an increase of approximately 400,000 tons above May and June levels.

John Packard
Read more from John PackardLatest in Economy

Steel, manufacturing, and union groups divided on S232 tariffs
Domestic steel trade associations, manufacturing groups, and the United Steelworkers (USW) union had mixed reactions to the implementation of new Section 232 tariffs without exclusions on Wednesday. Trade groups representing steel mills broadly supported President Trump’s actions, while the USW and some groups representing manufacturers were more critical. AISI Kevin Dempsey, president and CEO of […]

CRU: Will US tariff policy be transactional or transformational?
The Trump 1.0 tariffs appeared to have little positive effect on the US manufacturing, partly because they hurt export competitiveness.

Beige Book finds mixed demand trends, tariff concerns
Manufacturing activity exhibited slight to modest increases across a majority of districts. However, manufacturers expressed concerns over the potential impact of looming trade policy changes between late January and February.

Construction spending drops marginally in January
Construction spending edged down slightly in January, slipping for the first time in four months. The US Census Bureau estimated spending at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $2,196 billion in January, down 0.2% from December’s downward revised rate. The January figure is 3.3% higher than a year ago. January’s result, despite the slight erosion, […]

ISM: Manufacturing expansion slowed in February
The Manufacturing PMI registered 50.3% in February. That’s 0.6 percentage points lower compared to the 50.9% recorded in January.