Final Thoughts
Final Thoughts
Written by John Packard
June 14, 2019
Happy Father’s Day to all of the fathers reading tonight’s issue.
I will be in New York City participating in the CRU Steel Briefing, which will be held at the Sheraton Hotel in Manhattan on Monday afternoon. Later that evening I will be attending the Bank of America Merrill Lynch steel dinner hosted by Timna Tanners, their metals and mining analyst. I do have some time on Tuesday morning should someone want to speak with me while I am in New York City. I will be returning to my office on Wednesday morning.
I wish to highly encourage companies to nominate young talented employees who are performing at an exceptional level, or who have shown themselves to be highly creative, for the SMU NexGen Leadership Award. So far, we have had approximately 50 companies inquiring through the website looking for information and we have started to get the first trickle of nominations coming in. This award, sponsored by the Steel Manufacturers Association, will allow those nominated, and especially the winner, to be recognized for his or her contributions. We hope it will encourage more young people to consider careers in manufacturing, fabrication, steel distribution, steel mills, toll processors and other companies that work with mild carbon and advanced high-strength steels. Support your team by nominating your young up-and-rising stars. For more details go to: www.SMUAward.com
Things are starting to get hectic (even more hectic) as we finish our preparations for the 2019 SMU Steel Summit Conference. We are sitting at 700 executives registered from about 300 companies. We still anticipate 1,000 decision-makers from more than 400 companies when the final tally comes in. If you would like to learn more about the agenda, speakers, sponsors, exhibitors, hotels, costs to attend and how to register go to: www.SteelMarketUpdate.com/Events/Steel-Summit. If you are having any issues with registration please contact Brett Linton at 770-299-9897 or email Events@SteelMarketUpdate.com
Paige Mayhair is on vacation this week and her job is being covered by Brett Linton. If you have questions about renewals, upgrading your membership or becoming a subscriber to SMU, please contact Brett@SteelMarketUpdate.com or call him at 770-299-9897.
As always, your business is truly appreciated by all of us here at Steel Market Update.
John Packard, President & CEO
John Packard
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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.
Final Thoughts
Another presidential election cycle has come to an end. If you’re anything like me, part of you is just happy you no longer need to unsubscribe or “text STOP to opt-out” from the onslaught of political text messages this cycle produced.
Final Thoughts
With the US presidential election decided, ‘wait and see’ has quickly turned into ‘we’re about to find out.’ Following Donald Trump’s victory, I had a chance to sit down with Kevin Dempsey, president and CEO of the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI). He gave his thoughts on what he thought we might see in Trump’s second term in office, and what it means for steel.