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 in this analysis is currently 36. The Chicago Fed Mid-West Manufacturing Index which was suspended earlier this year was expected to be re-instituted this month but […]
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 has been increased by one this month to thirty six. We have added the price of coking coal FOB the Australian East Coast to the raw […]
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 five, the Chicago Fed Mid-West Manufacturing Index is still on hold to enable the staff to complete a major re-vamp of the […]
If we start with the premise that the consumer is almost 70 percent of GDP and that steel consumption is closely correlated with GDP, then consumer behavior and, in particular, debt is very relevant to our future businesses. Consumer spending is driven by income and both the perception of current debt and willingness to take […]
At the end of each month Steel Market Update takes a look back at the data we have compiled and does a quick analysis for our readers. This is different than our SMU Key Market Indicators which is also included in this newsletter. Benchmark hot rolled coil prices averaged $667 per ton (SMU) for the […]
The SMU Key Market Indicators is a Premium Level product produced by Peter Wright in collaboration with Steel Market Update. Our Executive Level members have been getting access to all of the Premium Level data for the month of July (today is the last day). This includes access to all of the Premium data which […]
Today is the last day of July. During the past 30 days or so we have been giving our Executive Level subscribers (our normal newsletter members) access to Premium Level content and supplemental newsletters/articles. There are two Premium articles in tonight’s newsletter and you can recognize them as we have put a premium logo in […]
We are going to hold off on doing an import analysis other than to say that the latest license data suggests July imports will be approximately the same as June. I will check the latest numbers to see if there are any huge variances compared to what we reported over the past few days. If […]
For those of you who don’t realize it – Steel Market Update is conducting our mid-July market analysis this week. I have added a couple of questions about the sale of the Dearborn and Columbus steel mills. I will send out a reminder email first thing in the morning on Wednesday. If you receive an […]
As you may have noticed, we have been writing a series of articles highlighting the benefits of our Premium membership. Through the end of July, our Executive members will have access to our Premium content. If you have not yet explored our Premium content, such as SMU’s survey data or imports by product/port/country, I would […]
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 five, the Chicago Fed Mid-West Manufacturing Index is still on hold to enable the staff to complete a major re-vamp of the […]
For those of you who are paying attention to our website you might have noticed we added a new sub-menu under the Resources tab. The new menu is called “The Truth About Selling Steel” and we have attempted to split out those articles associated with sales from our Steel Buyers Basics series of articles many […]
If we start with the premise that the consumer is almost 70 percent of GDP and that steel consumption is closely correlated with GDP, then consumer behavior and in particular debt is very relevant to our future businesses. Consumer spending is driven by income and both the perception of current debt and willingness to take […]
One of the products which is provided to our Premium Level members only is our Key Market Indicators. Our KMI analysis is showing an improving (more positives than negatives) situation, especially in the flat rolled steel markets. An explanation of the Key Indicators concept is given at the end of this piece for those readers […]
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 five, a decrease of one as the Chicago Fed Mid-West Manufacturing Index has been put on hold until late April to enable […]
From time to time Steel Market Update uses words or phrases within articles which sometimes will set off your SPAM filters. You may notice that I never use the “M” word. The word used to describe a home loan. It is one of the words that SPAM filters love to hate. Another word is survey […]
Durable goods orders increased in February continuing the healthy trend that has existed since the recession (Figure 1). However the three month moving average (3MMA) declined as November’s above trend result was dropped from the calculation (Figure 2). The year over year growth rate of the 3MMA has progressively declined from 7.9 percent in November […]
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. Please refer to Table 1 for the view of the present situation and the quantitative measure of trends. The present situation of […]
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 by Steel Market Update at present is thirty six. The present situation of twelve of the indicators based on historical standards was positive on January 28th […]
The projected forecast for Mobile, Alabama during the first week of February is for temperatures to be in the low to mid 60’s. A far cry from the temperatures which have been well below freezing in the Upper Midwest and at, or below, in the rest of the states north of the Mason-Dixon Line. Steel […]
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 December 28, the same as on November […]
Happy New Year to our members and those viewing our steel industry newsletter for the first time. We wish everyone a Happy, Healthy and Prosperous New Year. We are quite bullish on the North American flat rolled steel industry for the first six months of 2014. Not every segment is clicking on all cylinders – […]
Although Steel Market Update, Inc. is only “officially” 5.5 years old we are actually moving into our 9th year of publishing when the calendar changes to 2014. The first 2.5 years of continuous publication came during my tenure as an agent for Winner Steel along with my association with a couple of trading companies during […]
For those of you who logged into the website and read the newsletter online – you will already know that our SMU Price Ranges & Indices article has an interactive graphic at the end of the article. Those of you reading the newsletter in your inbox will not be able to see or interact with […]
Steel Market Update will publish our second Premium Supplement Newsletter on Monday. Included will be our SMU Key Market Indicators and forecast, September imports by product, port and country and articles related to our most recent steel market analysis not available elsewhere. If you are interested in upgrading one of your memberships to the Premium […]
The total number of Key Market Indicators considered at present is thirty six. The present situation of eleven of the indicators based on historical standards was positive on November 21st the same as on October 31st but there were two changes. We changed the situation of demand for commercial and industrial bank loans from green […]
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; […]
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 September 22nd and thirteen were negative; […]
The process of populating, testing, editing, fixing, testing, editing, adding content, editing, testing – well, you get the idea…. The website work continues and we continue to strive to meet the Friday the 13th deadline. My gut is telling me a week late may be a better target – but, we are going to try […]
An explanation of the Key Indicators concept is given at the end of this piece for those readers who are unfamiliar with it. The SMU Key Market Indicators and Analysis will become part of the new Premium membership when the new SMU website comes up in September. The total number of indicators considered at present […]