Final Thoughts
Final Thoughts
Written by John Packard
October 24, 2016
We have an article about this in tonight’s newsletter as well but I want to make sure that everyone is aware that our next Steel 101: Introduction to Steel Making & Market Fundamentals Workshop is being held in Huntsville, Alabama on January 24 & 25, 2017. As part of this workshop we will tour the Nucor Decatur electric arc furnace steel mill which produces hot rolled, HRPO, cold rolled and galvanized steels. Our instructors are second to none: John Eckstein (metallurgist, flat rolled), Peter Wright (metallurgist, long products also market analyst), Steve Painter (regional sales manager), Mario Briccetti (engineer/OEM purchasing/consulting) as well as myself (31 years selling & 8 years writing and analyzing the steel industry). You can find more details on our website or feel free to give me a call at 800-432-3475.
I don’t know about you but I am ready to have this presidential election over… Two more weeks to go (is it me or does this one seem like it has been going on for a lifetime?).
I want to welcome those of you who have recently registered for a free trial of our services. Please take some time to acquaint yourself with our website. If you have any questions on the website please contact Brett@SteelMarketUpdate.com or myself at John@SteelMarketUpdate.com.
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.