Economy
April at a Glance
Written by John Packard
April 30, 2017
The month of April began with SMU Price Momentum Indicator pointing toward higher prices and by the second week of the month we had moved our Indicator to Neutral which is where it is now as the month ends.
Our 3MMA for the SMU Steel Buyers Sentiment Index appears to be peaking at +74. The individual data points for the month averaged +73.5 so, we expect May to begin below the +74 level unless we get a surprise in this coming week’s flat rolled steel market trends analysis.
SMU hot rolled prices averaged $640 per ton, slightly below the CME settlement price of $647 and below the Platts HRC average of $652 per the month.
Scrap prices were down in April as was zinc which at $1.1781 per pound at the end of the month is well below its peak of approximately $1.34 per pound.
Iron ore in China dropped and at the end of the month was averaging $66.4/DMT for 62% Fe fines.
Rig counts keep rising, ending the month at 870 rigs.
The MSCI inventories were quite low at 1.82 month’s supply as of the end of March. Based on the MSCI numbers the SMU Service Center Inventories Apparent Excess/Deficit model had distributor flat rolled inventories as being -703,000 away from being balanced.
John Packard
Read more from John PackardLatest in Economy
Architecture billings continue to slide in March
Architecture firms said billings continued to decline in March, according to the latest Architecture Billings Index (ABI) released by the American Institute of Architects (AIA) and Deltek.
Beige Book shows concerns about trade policy
Manufacturing was mixed, but two-thirds of districts said activity was little changed or had declined.
New York state manufacturing index drops again in April
Firms were pessimistic, with the future general business conditions index falling to its second lowest reading in the more than 20-year history of the survey
Construction adds 13,000 jobs in March
The construction sector added 13,000 jobs, seasonally adjusted, in March, but tariffs could undermine the industry.
Supply chains, end-users brace for impact from tariffs
Supply chains are working through what the tariffs mean for them