The active U.S and Canadian drill rigs count continues to inch upwards, according to updated data released by oilfield services company Baker Hughes. The active drill rigs count is important to the steel industry because it is a leading indicator of oil country tubular goods demand. The number of active U.S. rigs increased by 4 […]
The Department of Commerce has self-initiated an investigation into the circumvention of antidumping and countervailing duty orders on oil country tubular goods from China. Commerce said on Thursday that it will investigate whether hot rolled steel sheet and strip from China is exported to Brunei and the Philippines for minor processing before being exported to […]
By Principal Consultant Josh Spoores, from CRU’s Steel Sheet Products Monitor North American sheet prices have continued to surge after bottoming this past August. For HR coil, prices have been assessed at $712 /s.ton. Since Aug. 12, these prices have gained $237 /s.ton, or 63%. This is the fastest percent gain over three months in […]
By CRU Chief Economist Jumana Saleheen and Principal Economist Alex Tuckett, from CRU’s Steel Monitor In this Global Economic Outlook, we look ahead to 2021 and outline our top ten calls for the global economy. These include predictions on Covid-19 vaccines, world growth, the auto and construction sectors, the U.S. dollar, monetary and fiscal policy, […]
The October Energy Information Administration (EIA) Short Term Energy Outlook remains subject to heightened levels of uncertainty because mitigation and reopening efforts related to COVID-19 continue to evolve. Reduced economic activity from the pandemic has caused changes in 2020 energy demand and supply patterns and will continue to affect these patterns in the future. EIA […]
By CRU Chief Economist Jumana Saleheen and Principal Economist Alex Tuckett, from CRU’s Global Economic Outlook In this Global Economic Outlook, we reflect on some of the most important risks to the forecast we discussed with clients during LME week. Three issues were foremost: risks to the recovery from the second Covid-19 wave, policy stimulus […]
It’s an understatement to say it’s been a challenging year for Allegheny Technologies, Inc., said President and CEO Robert Wetherbee during ATI’s third-quarter earnings call. Commercial aerospace is ATI’s largest end market and was devastated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Sales in the jet engine segment plunged 68 percent year over year and 47 percent in […]
Trade attorney and Steel Market Update contributor Lewis Leibowitz offers the following update on events in Washington: This campaign, like all others, is about many issues. The economy, though, is clearly the most powerful message of the Trump campaign. Over the last century or so, where does the Trump economy rank? There are many different […]
We had a good conference call with HARDI wholesalers this morning. The dealers who service the mechanical contractors with galvanized sheet and coils continue to be busy. They are surprised at the steepness of the cost curve, and they are beginning to be wary of paying too high a price. One reason they are wary is […]
Trade attorney and Steel Market Update contributor Lewis Leibowitz offers the following update on events in Washington: This campaign, like all others, is about many issues. The economy, though, is clearly the most powerful message of the Trump campaign. Over the last century or so, where does the Trump economy rank? There are many different […]
The number of active U.S and Canadian gas and oil rigs increased yet again this past week, according to oilfield services company Baker Hughes. The active drill rigs count is important to the steel industry because it is a leading indicator of oil country tubular goods demand. The number of active U.S. rigs increased by […]
Nine days to go… I don’t know about you but my cell phone is being lit up with political calls/texts from both parties – including states I don’t live in. November 4th can’t get here fast enough… Steel Dynamics reported that their mills (all products) operated at 85 percent and their sheet mills achieved a […]
Revenues from construction and toll processing exceeded expectations in the third quarter, offsetting some of the weakness in aerospace and energy, reported Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co. in its quarterly conference call today. Touting a record gross profit margin of 32.4 percent, executives of the industry’s largest service center organization told analysts and investors they […]
By CRU Multi-Commodity Analysts Zanna Aleksahhina and Will Young Over the summer and into Q3 2020 commodity prices staged a remarkable recovery from Q2 lows and in October many prices are comfortably above where they started the year. Given that the major economies are still struggling to control the spread of Covid-19, underlying demand is […]
The 2020 pandemic has caused more disruption to the global energy sector than any other event in recent history, says the International Energy Agency in its newest World Energy Outlook. “Whether this upheaval ultimately helps or hinders efforts to accelerate clean energy transitions and reach international energy and climate goals will depend on how governments […]
The following report was done by David Schollaert, the new analyst at Steel Market Update. He was asked to take a look at past market trends and to lay out scenarios for future trends. Obviously, there are black swan events (such as the Section 232 tariffs) which can push a market in one direction much […]
The number of active U.S and Canadian gas and oil rigs increased again this past week, according to oilfield services company Baker Hughes. The active drill rigs count is important to the steel industry because it is a leading indicator of oil country tubular goods demand. The number of active U.S. rigs increased by 3 […]
By CRU China CEO John Johnson and CRU Senior Consultant Ashley Wang from CRU’s Steel Sheet Products Monitor On Sept. 22, in a statement to the United Nations General Assembly, President Xi Jinping announced to world leaders that China “aims to have CO2 emissions peak before 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality before 2060”. The part of this statement concerning CO2 was brief […]
By CRU Senior Cost Economist Ross Cunningham and CRU Research Analyst Eric Lucking, from CRU’s Global Steel Trade Service At CRU, we forecast the exchange rates for all the countries where our relevant commodities are produced. Our short and medium-term view is reviewed each quarter. This is anchored to our long-term forecast, which uses a […]
Trade attorney and Steel Market Update contributor Lewis Leibowitz offers the following update on events in Washington: Each week seems to bring new surprises, economically and politically. I was struck by the monthly trade report and question from readers—I thought I’d pull them together and try to respond. The August trade report was released last […]
Trade attorney and Steel Market Update contributor Lewis Leibowitz offers the following update on events in Washington: The election may already have been decided, but we can’t know that until election night and perhaps not even then. While we wait for those results, I want to take the time to explore a reader’s question I’ve […]
The September Energy Information Administration (EIA) Short Term Energy Outlook remains subject to heightened levels of uncertainty due to evolving COVID-19 mitigation and reopening efforts. In its outlook, EIA reports that reduced economic activity has caused changes in energy demand and supply patterns. Crude oil production has risen as operators have brought wells back online […]
The number of active U.S and Canadian gas and oil rigs increased this past week, according to oilfield services company Baker Hughes. The active drill rigs count is important to the steel industry because it is a leading indicator of oil country tubular goods demand. The number of active U.S. rigs increased by 6 to […]
From one of our SMU readers to John Packard, President & CEO of Steel Market Update, “Welcome back… Regarding steel, wow. What a difference a month (or, a month and half) makes!” A second reader told us, “Market pricing and lead-times have moved aggressively…and rapidly. Many are finding themselves too late to the party.” It […]
Editor’s note: SMU Contributor David Feldstein is president of Rock Trading Advisors. David has over 20 years of financial market trading experience and has been active in the ferrous futures space for eight years. David earned an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business with concentrations in economics, statistics and analytical finance. […]
Strong demand in auto, residential construction and consumer products benefited Worthington Industries in the first quarter of FY 2021. The company reported net sales of $702.9 million, an 18 percent decline from the first quarter of FY 2020. Net earnings totaled $616.7 million which included a net pre-tax gain of $746.6 million related to Worthington’s […]
By CRU Senior Analyst Erik Hedborg, from CRU’s Steelmaking Raw Materials Monitor Iron ore prices have stayed elevated in the past week and even exceeded $130 /dmt, before falling back on Tuesday to just below that level. Weakening margins in the Chinese steel industry held prices from rising further and seaborne supply improved in the […]
The number of active U.S and Canadian gas and oil rigs remained flat this past week, according to oilfield services company Baker Hughes. The active drill rigs count is important to the steel industry because it is a leading indicator of oil country tubular goods demand. The number of active U.S. rigs decreased by 2 […]
Employment in manufacturing and construction is recovering much more slowly than in the overall economy. The net change in employed persons was negative 20.8 million in April. Each month since then has had positive growth, but the recovery slowed in July and August. We have created a new summary chart for August to track the overall […]
The net change in employed persons in September was 661,000. Employment gains have slowed each month since June when 4.8 million jobs were recovered. The baseline against which future comparisons will be made is February 2020, the all-time high for nonfarm employment. Figure 1 shows the total number of people employed in the nonfarm economy. […]