Final Thoughts
Final Thoughts
Written by John Packard
November 15, 2017
I have a feeling if I were to write a long drawn-out final thoughts article that our readers would shoot me… I think we have 16 articles in tonight’s newsletter – many of them top-line articles (price increases, MSCI data, Sentiment, Lead Times, Negotiations, Section 232, etc.). What you don’t know is we actually moved five articles out of this newsletter to Sunday evening’s issue…
By the way, if there are any SBQ buyers out there, give me a call (or shoot me an email). Just trying to help out another SBQ end user who asked me a question I couldn’t answer (and I always try to answer questions when asked). You can reach me at 800-432-3475 or at John@SteelMarketUpdate.com
Quick note about next week’s publishing schedule. We will publish a larger than normal newsletter on Sunday evening…. Then we publish as normal on Tuesday. Thursday is Thanksgiving in the United States and I have to give my exceptional employees the day off (and as much of the weekend as possible). Since we will be publishing a thicker than normal newsletter this Sunday we will publish a thinner than normal one on the Sunday after Thanksgiving.
While I am talking about Holidays. One of the issues with having motivated employees is they don’t take a lot of time off. So, I fixed them and insisted that everyone take off the week between Christmas and New Year’s. For the first time since I started Steel Market Update I am going to leave the country for 12 days at that same time. Don’t worry, I am still a workaholic and I have made arrangements to make sure I have internet and my phone works while traveling (at least when we are near land with cell towers). If something happens I will cover it…
If you started reading from the top and you finally got to here – well, thank you for plowing through tonight’s issue.
And, as always, your business is truly appreciated by all of us here at Steel Market Update – tell your steel friends about us…
John Packard, Publisher
John Packard
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Final Thoughts
We never eat chicken on New Year’s Day. My Irish-Catholic grandmother thought it was bad luck – because chickens scratch backward. And one should start the year looking forward. But it’s hard to avoid the fact that we’re carrying a lot 2024 issues (and even 2023 ones) forward into 2025. That’s not all bad. We’re starting 2025 with SMU’s hot-rolled coil price at $675/per short ton (st). That’s $370/st lower than $1045/st at the outset of 2023, according to our interactive pricing tool. I think we can safely say that a decline of that magnitude won’t happen in 2025.
Final Thoughts
And just like that, we’re wrapping up the last SMU newsletter of 2024. We’re closing out our 19th year and looking with wide-eyed anticipation to what 2025 will bring.
Final Thoughts
SMU looks back at stories from Decembers past, one, five, 10, and 100 years ago.
Final Thoughts
It's that time of year again. You know, that time when people wonder if those things are drones in New Jersey or if the aliens are ready to come onto the stage just in time for Inauguration Day. What will that do for steel price volatility? In any case, the SMU team finds itself in Pittsburgh this week.
Final Thoughts
The Community Chat last Wednesday with ITR economist Taylor St. Germain is worth listening to if you couldn’t tune in live. You can find the replay and Taylor’s slide deck here. You can also find SMU reporter Stephanie Ritenbaugh’s writeup of the webinar here. Taylor is Alan Beaulieu’s protégé at ITR. Many of you know Alan from his talks at SMU Steel Summit. I found Taylor’s analysis just as insightful as Alan’s.