Final Thoughts
Final Thougths
Written by John Packard
January 20, 2017
The Final Thoughts section is the area where I get to provide my opinions about what I am seeing and sensing in the market. I have been debating over the weekend whether or not now is the time to adjust our Price Momentum Indicator from Higher to Neutral. A Neutral reading would mean prices are in a state of fluctuation and could move in either direction over the next 30 days. However, I do not have any evidence of spot price erosion in cold rolled and coated products, only in hot rolled. If you have any information or thoughts on the subject please feel free to contact me.
I will be in Huntsville, Alabama over the next few days as we conduct our Steel 101: Introduction to Steel Making & Marker Fundamentals workshop. I am looking forward to touring the Nucor Decatur steel mill as this will be my first time at the mill. The weather looks to be decent (for late January).
After Huntsville our next Steel 101 workshop will be in Toledo, Ohio where we will be touring the North Star Bluescope EAF steel facility. We had a workshop in their area last year but the mill had an issue with one of their furnaces that stopped us from touring their facility. So, I am looking forward to going to the North Star Bluescope mill. The dates of this workshop will be April 11 & 12, 2017.
We continue to work with a number of mills over the balance of this year and into 2018. Stay tuned for more details as they become available.
Brett will be with me in Huntsville assisting with our workshop. Diana and Alison will be covering our offices here in Florida and can be reached at 800-432-3475 or 772-932-7538.
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
Nucor said it is seeking $740 per short ton (st) for hot-rolled (HR) coil this week, up $20/st from last week. USS, meanwhile, is shooting for up $30/st for sheet products in general. (USS did not announce a target price for HR.)
Final Thoughts
We all know the American news cycle moves pretty fast. Viral today, cached tomorrow. So it is with the US presidential election on Tuesday, Nov. 5. People have election fatigue. They've moved on to other things like planning holiday parties, debating Super Bowl hopefuls, or even starting to look forward to our Tampa Steel Conference in February.
Final Thoughts
U.S. Steel plans to increase sheet prices by at least $30 per short ton (st). That's something we haven't seen for a while.
Final Thoughts
SMU's hot-rolled (HR) coil price slipped this week to $685 per short ton (st) on average. We also adjusted our sheet momentum indicators to lower for the first time since July.
Final Thoughts
When a mapmaker constructs a map, it’s always to the contours of the land. Or sea. That is, the mapmaker doesn’t say, “Look, these rocks really don’t belong here, so I’m not going to include them in the harbor map.” Uncharted rocks, sink ships (along with loose lips).