There have been many comments made in the press recently regarding the opinions of analysts and consultants as to how long the current flat rolled price environment will last.The Pittsburgh Post published an article by Len Boselovic entitled: “Heard off the Street: Analysts: steel price hike may not last.” This article, which quotes one of […]
The Associated General Contractors of America, on May 1, released their March analysis of construction spending. Construction spending in March 2016 was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1.138 trillion. SMU looked back at past March analyses and found an upward trend in spending for the month. In March 2014 construction spending totaled $943 […]
Olympic Steel reported a narrower than expected net loss of $767,000 for first quarter 2016. Revenues were $258.3 million compared to $346 million in Q1 2015 due to lower prices and volume. First quarter shipments increased, however 16 percent from fourth quarter 2015 recapturing market share from last year’s declining marketplace. “We successfully navigated challenging […]
The Chicago Business Barometer, or Chicago PMI, dropped 3.2 points to 50.4 in April indicating a slow start to the second quarter. New orders and order backlogs both fell sharply during the month. Inventories, which have been relatively stable in the past few months, increased to their highest point since October 2015 but were still […]
According to Baker Hughes data from April 29, 2016, the U.S rig count for the week was 420 rigs exploring for or developing oil or natural gas. This is a decrease of 11 rigs when compared to last week, with oil rigs down 11 to 332 rigs, gas rigs down 1 to 87 rigs, and […]
The Broad Index value of the US $ peaked on January 20th at 126.2, and on April 15th (latest figure available) was rated at 119.7, a decline of 5.2 percent. This is the lowest value since November 3rd 2015 (Figure 1). On March 15th the Fed held rates constant and cut its projection for 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 […]
Durable Goods orders increased 0.8 percent to $230.7 billion in March, according to the Commerce Department. March’s increase is the second one in the past three months and follows a 3.1 percent decrease in February and a 4.3 increase in January. The increase fell below economist consensus of 1.7- 1.9 percent. A surge in military […]
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 […]
The following is one of the monthly analyses Steel Market Update does on key commodities and raw materials which impact steel prices: iron ore, scrap, coking coal as well as zinc and aluminum. Prices of the various commodities have been rising over the past month which is a net positive for the steel industry. The […]
The states compile their employment numbers independently of the Feds, then both are reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The results are close. In the last thirteen quarters since Q1 2013, the Feds reported total job creation of 8,948,000 and the states reported 8,610,400. There is a difference in these reports that shrinks the […]
Both these data points are reported in the Federal Reserve G17 data base. This month the historical data has been revised and we have updated our files back to January 2000. The index had an all-time high of 106.40 in January 2015 but on a month over month basis has declined for 13 of the […]
Below is the latest release issued by the Air-Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute (AHRI) regarding residential and commercial heating and cooling equipment shipments through November 2015. You may read the press release on their website here. Residential Storage Water Heaters U.S. shipments of residential gas storage water heaters for February 2016 decreased 8.5 percent to […]
We have include an abridged statement from the IMF that was released on Tuesday this week and in which the commodity situation continues to loom large. Our SMU data analysis follows with comments about the future of global and domestic steel demand through 2021. We believe that an understanding of global influences is essential if […]
The following analysis was done by Peter Wright who writes a number of analytical articles for Steel Market Update. The energy markets are key markets for steel so it is important for our readers to understand oil and gas prices as well as the tubular products associated with drilling and transportation of oil and gas. […]
US Steel CEO Mario Longhi criticized the European Union and United Kingdom for being “negligent” in in addressing dumping of steel from China and blamed the UK steel crisis on “misguided policies.” In an interview with the Financial Times, Longhi said the willingness of the British government to grant market economy status to China will […]
The ocean bound freight market had a bit of good news last week—the Baltic Dry Index rose to 517 on April 7 and closed the week out on April 9 at 539, nearly an 86 percent increase from mid-February’s historic low of 290. MID-SHIP Report says a celebration is not yet warranted since the BDI […]
Each month the Commerce Department issues its Construction Put in Place (CPIP) data, usually on the first working day covering activity two months earlier. February data was released on Friday April 1st. Construction Put in Place is based on spending work as it occurs, estimated for a given month from a sample of projects. In […]
US Steel will lay off about 25 percent of its salaried workers in its latest cost cutting effort. It is estimated about 750 employees in the 3,000 North American salaried positions will be laid off. “This is part of the ongoing adjustment to staff levels and operations due to challenging market conditions, including fluctuating oil […]
On Friday and Saturday of this past week, Steel Market Update attended the Association of Steel Distributors spring meeting. The following are some of the notes made during the presentations and during discussions with ASD members. Dr. Chris Kuehl of Armada Corporate Intelligence reported that he is “a little optimistic” when it comes to the […]
According to Baker Hughes data from April 11, 2016, the U.S rig count for the week was 450 rigs exploring for or developing oil or natural gas. This is a decrease of 14 rigs when compared to last week, with oil rigs down 10 to 362 rigs, gas rigs down 4 to 88 rigs, and […]
According to Baker Hughes data from April 8, 2016, the U.S rig count for the week was 443 rigs exploring for or developing oil or natural gas. This is a decrease of 7 rigs when compared to last week, with oil rigs down 8 to 354 rigs, gas rigs up 1 to 89 rigs, and […]
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported on Friday in their analysis of non-farm employment that 215,000 jobs were added in March, down from 245,000 in February but up from 168,000 in January. January and February were revised down by a total of 1,000. An explanation of the BLS report is included at the end […]
A quick survey of ports shows good warehouse availability for incoming steel products. Los Angeles and Gulf ports saw a significant decline in steel imports in 2015. At the Port of Houston steel import tonnage dropped 28 percent from 6.5 million tons in 2014 to 4.6 million tons in 2015. Tubular product imports are expected […]
The Chicago Business Barometer, or Chicago PMI as it is commonly called, surged six points in March to 53.6. The bounce back from February’s 8 point contraction was due to strong gains in production, new orders and order backlogs. The employment index rose above 50 in March to its highest level since April 2015. Inventories […]
The Canadian International Trade Tribunal (CITT) issued a final determination today (March 29) that finds Canadian producers have been injured due to the dumped and subsidized imports of certain carbon and alloy steel line pipe from China. The investigation was initiated by the CBSA on August 28, 2015 following complaints filed by EVRAZ North America […]
According to Baker Hughes data from March 24, 2016, the U.S rig count for the week was 464 rigs exploring for or developing oil or natural gas. This is a decrease of 12 rigs when compared to last week, with oil rigs down 15 to 372 rigs, gas rigs up 3 to 92 rigs, and […]
Worthington Industries reported net sales of $647.1 million for third quarter 2016, ending February 29. Sales were down from second quarter and year over year as a result of lower volume in Pressure Cylinders and Engineered Cabs, combined with lower average selling prices in Steel Processing due to a decline in the market price of […]
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 […]
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 […]