Final Thoughts
Final Thoughts
Written by John Packard
November 15, 2019
Do you think the country is going to be a little distracted this week with all the witnesses in President Trump’s impeachment hearings? A reminder of the results of one of our real-time polls where 53 percent of the 493 individuals responding to a question about who they were going to vote for in the presidential race in 2020 answered President Trump. President Trump can get wet, but he doesn’t seem to rust….
On Monday we will begin our mid-November flat rolled and plate steel market trends survey as we look to better understand this market. Invitations will be sent out at 8 AM ET.
If you would like to be included, please send me a note at John@SteelMarketUpdate.com
Cold air has come all the way to South Florida where earlier today I got up close to a lizard who was desperately trying to catch some heat off my brick sidewalk. The lizard (seen here in the picture to the left) was alive and well as I reached down to touch it. However, the 60 some odd degrees seemed a bit much for this cold-blooded creature who is used to 70’s at night and 80’s during the day at this time of the year. He refused to budge off the somewhat warm brick no matter how much I prodded him…
Why do I bring up the plight of this poor lizard? I thought it would be a great segue to mention that our next Steel 101 workshop will be held in beautiful Southern California on Jan. 7-8, 2020. Many of you will be searching for warm bricks of your own as you try to navigate the winter of 2020. Maybe a couple of days in Ontario, Calif., and a tour of a nice warm steel mill (in this case, California Steel Industries) might do the trick. You can learn more about our workshop, the venue, costs and how to register on our website: www.SteelMarketUpdate.com/events/steel101 or you are welcome to contact us at info@SteelMarketUpdate.com
A note about the 2020 SMU Steel Summit, our 10th conference, which will be held in Atlanta on Aug. 24-26. The venue is not going to change, but there will be some advances as we look to expand the size and scope of the conference. We are anticipating close to 1,200 attendees, which will make for exceptional networking. I am working hard on the speakers already. Mark your calendars to join us in Atlanta at the end of August 2020.
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
We had an October surprise here at SMU on Wednesday. I was working from the CRU office in Pittsburgh, and the internet connection briefly went out. As luck would have it, that happened smack in the middle of a live Community Chat webinar. Fortunately, my colleague David Schollaert stepped in, Zekelman Industries CEO Barry Zekelman rolled with the punches – and the show went on. Could there be any more October surprises in store for us and for the steel market?
Final Thoughts
We just wrapped up another Steel 101 workshop, easily the most hands-on industry workshop on steelmaking and market fundamentals, in this humble opinion. Last week on Tuesday and Wednesday, SMU’s Steel 101 was held in Starkville, Miss.
Final Thoughts
Everybody has an opinion about politics these days. More importantly for our readers, though, every business has a bottom line. A popular question in our most recent steel buyers survey asked how uncertainty around the upcoming US presidential election could affect that line.
Final Thoughts
I’m trying to make sure this is not a TL;DR Final Thoughts. As a journalism school professor once told me, ‘No one but your mom reads more than 1,000 words.’ Also, as the old adage goes, a picture is worth a thousand as well. With that in mind, below are a couple of charts that I think go a long way toward explaining how prices and lead times have been relatively stable despite concerns about demand.
Final Thoughts
It’s another week of big headlines for the world writ large – an expanding war in the Middle East, another potentially catastrophic hurricane – and not much going on in the world of steel prices. “Call me Stevie Wonder, I see nothing.” That’s how one service center executive described the current sheet market. There seems to be almost a competition among some of our Community Chat guests and contributors to outdo each other in flowery ways to say, “