Final Thoughts
Final Thoughts
Written by John Packard
October 14, 2016
On Monday morning we will begin our mid-October flat rolled steel market survey. We expect to invite more than 550 people representing about 525 companies to participate in this market trends analysis. The invitations should be in your email inbox by 8 AM ET.
We provide a power point presentation putting a good portion of the results into a historical context. The presentation will be available to those who provide responses on Friday of this week. It will also be available to our Premium level members.
We should have the Huntsville, AL Steel 101 workshop up and ready for reservations sometime this week. We will advise once the negotiations with the hotel have been completed. I will be looking forward to seeing you in Alabama for our first Steel 101 workshop of the New Year.
The last presidential debate is Wednesday (thank god) and this election cycle will soon be over – do any of you think the presidential election cycle has been negatively affecting the industry? Send me your thoughts: John@SteelMarketUpdate.com
Speaking of the steel industry on Friday the Wall Street Journal published an article entitled: Donald Trump’s Use of Foreign Steel Undercuts Major Campaign Theme. I have a “cameo” appearance in the article stating the obvious. You can click on the link to see what I and others had to say on the subject.
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
“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.)