Goldman Sachs steel analysts, in a letter to their clients seen by Steel Market Update, upgraded the steel sector as they feel, “…we see the sector heading to a sustainable recovery over the coming years…” They went on to tell their clients, “The supply-demand fundamentals for steel are starting to look more appealing, particularly for […]
Nucor Steel has filed an objection to the air quality permit issued to Big River Steel in an effort to block construction of the $1.1 billion mill. The challenge to the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality decision will push back the ground breaking for the new steel mill to the first quarter of 2014. Big […]
Review of Manufacturing. October 31st 2013 Each month the Steel Market Update publishes a table of what we believe to be the most significant indicators of the state of the steel market and current results in the long and flat rolled sectors. We will be discussing one section of this table in detail each month, […]
The Empire State Manufacturing Index indicated steady business conditions for New York manufacturers in October. The general business index fell 5 points to 1.5 but remained in growth status. The new orders index rose 5 points while shipping fell 3 points, suggesting modest increases for both indexes for the month. The prices paid index remained […]
The combination of higher spot prices for flat rolled steel and adjustments to contract negotiations has caused some steel buyers to seek alternatives to their normal domestic source of supply. Steel Market Update is beginning to get confirmations from both manufacturing companies and service centers of larger foreign tonnage purchases being made for 1st and […]
An explanation of the Key Indicators concept is given at the end of this piece for those readers who are unfamiliar with it. The total number of indicators considered at present is thirty six. The present situation of eleven of the indicators based on historical standards was positive on October 31st and thirteen were negative; […]
The European Steel Association (Eurofer) says the year-over-year decline in the European Union (EU) steel industry is beginning to lessen and should show positive growth in 2014, according to the Eurofer Economic and Steel Market Outlook 2013-2014. The SWIP (Steel Weighted Industrial Production) Index is expected to be down -1.1 percent in the third quarter […]
Both these data points are reported in the Federal Reserve G17 data base. The Industrial Production (IP) index was reported as 100.04 for September, up by 5.7 percent from the 99.47 result in August. This was the first month >100 since February 2008. The three month moving average (3MMA) increased by 2.5 percent year over […]
Caterpillar Inc. third quarter sales and revenues dropped to $13.423 billion from $16.445 billion in the third quarter of 2012. As a result, Caterpillar has revised its 2013 outlook downward and now expects sales and revenue of about $55 billion from the previous range of $56 to $58 billion. “This year has proven to […]
Reliance Steel & Aluminum increased sales 18.9 percent to $2.44 billion in the third quarter 2013 from $2.06 billion in third quarter 2012. Tons sold were up 31.3 percent year-over-year to 1.45 billion tons. Net income was $95.1 million, down 3.1 percent from $98.1 million in the third quarter of 2012 and up 17.4 percent from […]
The combination of higher spot prices and adjustments to contract negotiations has caused some buyers of flat rolled steel to seek alternatives to their normal domestic source of supply. Steel Market Update is beginning to get confirmations from both manufacturing companies and service centers of larger foreign tonnage purchases being made for 1st and early […]
Net job creation in September was 148,000 of which 122,000 was service providing and 22,000 goods producing. Of the service providing 22,000 was in government. Of the goods producing, 2,000 were in manufacturing and 20,000 in construction (Table 1). Expectations had been for a gain of 180,000. Digging into the September numbers reveals weak growth […]
The Architecture Billings Index (ABI) increased yet again for September, reaching its second highest level in 2013, just behind February. As a leading economic indicator of construction activity, the ABI reflects the approximate nine to twelve month lead time between architecture billings and construction spending. The American Institute of Architects reported on Wednesday that the […]
Steel Market Update is a member of an association connected to the construction industry called HARDI. HARDI stands for Heating, Air-conditioning, Refrigeration Distributors International. HARDI and The Institute for Trend Research (ITR), an economic forecasting company, work together to gather economic data to provide a forecast to the HARDI members located in the United States […]
Steel Market Update is a member of an association connected to the construction industry called HARDI. HARDI stands for Heating, Air-conditioning & Refrigeration Distributors International. HARDI and The Institute for Trend Research (ITR), an economic forecasting company, work together to gather economic data to provide a forecast to the HARDI members located in the United […]
NLMK USA steel sales totaled 451,000 metric tons (497,141 net tons) for third quarter of 2013, an increase of 5.1 percent from second quarter and 8.7 percent from third quarter 2012. The increase was due mostly to greater US sales for hot rolled coil (HRC) and galvanized steel—275,000 tonnes (303,135 net tons) and 65,000 tonnes […]
Based on responses from the Steel Market Update (SMU) mid-October steel market survey, SMU Steel Buyers Sentiment Index is +38 and is considered to represent an optimistic view of the industry by those buying and selling flat rolled steel products. The latest reading is up one point over our early October measurement but is one […]
Steel Dynamics reported a strong third quarter net income of $57 million on net sales of $1.9 billion. In comparison, SDI reported $13 million net income on net sales of $1.7 billion in September 2012, and $29 million on net sales of $1.8 billion in second quarter 2013. “Our consolidated operating income increased 64 percent […]
Steel Market Update saw a letter from Majestic Steel to their customers publically announcing a price increase. Majestic, which is well known as a supplier of coated products to the HVAC and construction industries, told their customers that the price increase is due to cold rolled base prices reaching as high as $39.50/cwt and $40.50/cwt […]
The Certified Steel Stud Association (CSSA) recently squared off against the Steel Framing Industry Association (SFIA) over galvanized coatings for steel stud. CSSA released a warning that G40e or G40EQ coated steel products are not a substitute for G40 coated steel studs. G40 is a hot-dipped galvanized coating (99 percent zinc) that is used to […]
Financial Markets: Two weeks back we suspected that the SP 500 and other US equities markets would struggle with all this Government Shutdown shenanegans. Sure enough, the SP 500 dropped progressively down to a low of 1646 yesterday from the 1697 level we had two weeks ago. However, since the announcement today of the preverbial […]
Canadian building permits in August declined for the third month in a row, dropping 0.7 percent to 209,652 units from 211,080 in July, according to data released Oct. 8 by Statistics Canada. Total value of permits in August was $6.3 billion, down 21.2 percent from July following an increase of 21.4 percent the previous month. […]
The partial federal government shutdown prevented the Bureau of Labor Statistics from publishing the September data which was scheduled for last Friday. We have therefore decided to take a more in depth look at manufacturing and construction employment through August. The graph below shows the change in total employment for these two sectors since January […]
Apparent steel use is expected to grow around 3 percent for both 2013 and 2014 says the World Steel Association in its Short Range Outlook. lobal steel demand is expected to increase to 1.475 billion metric tons in 2013, up 3.1 percent over 2012. WSA says steel use will continue its growth trend in 2014 […]
Activist investor Cevian Capital announced it has increased its stake in ThyssenKrupp AG from 5.2 percent to 6.1 percent. You may be familiar with the definition of an activist as “a vigorous advocate of a cause” but an activist investor is not quite the same. Investopedia defines an activist investor as: An individual or group […]
Effect of the government shutdown on information flow: about half of the data that we at SMU use to evaluate the state of and direction of the steel market is produced by government agencies and is publicly available. The current nature of things was brought home to us on Tuesday when we attempted to access […]
The Commerce Department data for construction expenditures in August should have been released on October 1st but due to the government shutdown is not available. We therefore decided to use our existing data and to take a more detailed look at non residential construction which is by far the largest sector of total construction expenditures. […]
For the past three days, Steel Market Update has been canvassing those attending the Metalcon show in downtown Atlanta. We spoke with manufacturers associated with the metal building, architectural panel and various construction products as well as their service center, steel mill, trading company, paint and toll processors. We heard mixed results regarding 2013 versus […]
The Baker Hughes North American Rotary Rig Count is a weekly census of the number of drilling rigs actively exploring for or developing oil or natural gas in the United States and Canada. Rigs are considered active from the time they break ground until the time they reach their target depth and may be establishing […]
The Bureau of Economic Analysis’s third estimate of GDP growth in the second quarter was 2.46 percent q / q, little changed from the 2nd estimate and up from 1.1 percent in the first quarter. The official news release is included below. All major sub components made positive contributions except government expenditures and net exports […]