EVRAZ North America announced it will idle indefinitely the Portland Spiral pipe mill in Oregon, effective April 9, 2016. The idling will result in the termination of 130 employees. The closure was “a result of economic challenges from three primary factors: delays in regulatory approvals for pipelines in the U.S. and Canada; the influx of […]
According to Baker Hughes data from February 12, 2016, the U.S rig count for the week was 541 rigs exploring for or developing oil or natural gas. This is a decrease of 30 rigs when compared to last week, with oil rigs down 28 to 439 rigs, gas rigs down 2 to 102 rigs, and […]
The following article on the hot rolled coil (HRC), busheling scrap (BUS), and financial futures markets was written by Andre Marshall, CEO of Crunch Risk LLC and our Managing Price Risk I & II instructor. Assisting Andre with tonight’s article is Jack Marshall also associated with CrunchRisk. Here is how Andre and Jack saw trading […]
In the twelve eleven months of 2015 bulk scrap exports were 12,955,000 metric tonnes, down by 9.7 percent from 2014 (14,280,000 net tons). The tonnages shown in Figure 1 are based on three month moving averages (3MMA) for 2015 and on the annual monthly average for previous years. The graph shows that exports declined for three […]
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) Board of Directors this week approved the Institute’s 2016 Public Policy Agenda during its meeting in Washington, D.C. The Agenda outlines aggressive pro-manufacturing policy strategies to guide advocacy for the upcoming year and highlights the importance of the steel industry to the U.S. economy and […]
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported on Friday in their analysis of non-farm employment that 151,000 jobs were added in January, down from 262,000 in December. According to the Wall Street Breakfast, “consensus had called for 190,000 jobs to be added, with the unemployment rate holding steady at 5 percent. Traders in interest rate […]
Each month the Commerce Department issues its construction put in place (CPIP) data, usually on the first working day covering activity two months earlier. December data was released on Monday February 1st. Construction Put in Place is based on spending work as it occurs, estimated for a given month from a sample of projects. In […]
According to Baker Hughes data from February 5, 2016, the U.S rig count for the week was 571 rigs exploring for or developing oil or natural gas. This is a decrease of 48 rigs when compared to last week, with oil rigs down 31 to 467 rigs, gas rigs down 17 to 104 rigs, and […]
The following article is written by Spencer Johnson of FC Stone LLC. With six years of experience, Spencer provides his customers strategic and tactical advice on protecting themselves against commodity price volatility in the steel markets. Spencer rotates weekly futures articles with Andre Marshall of Crunch Risk, LLC. Spencer can be reached at spencer.johnson@intlfcstone.com. If […]
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 eight quarters since Q1 2014, the Feds reported total job creation of 5,766,000 and the states reported 5,415,400. Figure 1 and Figure 2 show the history of Federal […]
USW members ratified a new three year contract with US Steel on Monday. The ratification passed by a 2-1 margin and will take effect immediately. “I am extremely proud of the solidarity and the commitment to fairness that the Steelworkers showed throughout this process,” said USW International Vice President Tom Conway, who led the union’s […]
We thought our readers might be interested in seeing what steel imports were from the American Institute for International Steel perspective. Steel imports declined 12.6 percent in 2015 according to data analyzed by the American Institute for International Steel. The press release from AIIS follows: Falls Church, VA. February 2, 2016. Steel imports closed out […]
The Institute for Supply Management reports that manufacturing activity in January remained in contraction for the fourth consecutive month. The January PMI was 48.2, signaling continued weakness in the manufacturing sector despite overall growth for the economy. The reading was no surprise to economists, coming in just above expectations of 48.1 in a poll by […]
According to Baker Hughes data from January 29, 2016, the U.S rig count for the week was 619 rigs exploring for or developing oil or natural gas. This is a decrease of 18 rigs when compared to last week, with oil rigs down 12 to 498 rigs, gas rigs down 6 to 121 rigs, and […]
The following article on the hot rolled coil (HRC), busheling scrap (BUS), and financial futures markets was written by Andre Marshall, CEO of Crunch Risk LLC and our Managing Price Risk I & II instructor. Assisting Andre with tonight’s article is Jack Marshall also associated with CrunchRisk. Here is how Andre and Jack saw trading […]
Foreign steel imports for calendar year 2015 came in at 38,719,343 net tons. This represents a 12.7 percent reduction in tonnage compared to 2014. However, 2015 is still well above the average of imports seen over the past seven years. We saw large reductions in tonnage for semi-finished (mostly slabs), hot rolled, cold rolled, plates […]
Mexican steelmaker, TYASA, plans to build the first Castrip® mill outside of Nucor at its mini-mill in Ixtaczoquitlan. The new facility will have the capability to produce 500,000 tons of thin-gauge, high-strength. The TYASA steel campus in the state of Veracruz, Mexico is designed to be highly efficiently with environmentally-friendly low emissions. The Simetal EAF […]
On December 16th the Federal Reserve raised the federal funds rate for the first time in almost a decade and as we write the FOMC is meeting once again and will make another announcement tomorrow regarding any change to the rate. None is expected though it is anticipated that four hikes could occur in 2016. […]
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 […]
China’s economy, the second largest in the world behind the U.S., grew at 6.9 percent in 2015. That was pretty close to its target of 7 percent for the year but also the slowest rate since 1990. Data released by the Chinese government shows fourth quarter growth at 6.8 percent. As recently as 2007 China’s […]
On Thursday evening’s issue of Steel Market Update we published an article about raw material prices. In the article, Peter Wright, a metallurgist, marketing specialist, contributing writer and Steel 101 instructor for Steel Market Update, referenced the relationship between WTI oil and scrap pricing. He said, “There is a close non causal relationship between the […]
According to Baker Hughes data from January 22, 2016, the U.S rig count for the week was 637 rigs exploring for or developing oil or natural gas. This is a decrease of 13 rigs when compared to last week, with oil rigs down 5 to 510 rigs, gas rigs down 8 to 127 rigs, and […]
The following article on the hot rolled coil (HRC), busheling scrap (BUS), and financial futures markets was written by Andre Marshall, CEO of Crunch Risk LLC and our Managing Price Risk I & II instructor. Assisting Andre with tonight’s article is Jack Marshall also associated with CrunchRisk. Here is how Andre and Jack saw trading […]
US Steel may temporarily lay off almost 700 workers at US Steel Tubular Products-Lone Star in Houston. Employees were advised by US Steel that operations may be adjusted “due to softening market conditions.” WARN notice listed by the Texas Workforce Commission on Jan 11 shows 679 employees slated for possible layoff beginning March 16, 2016. […]
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Each month the American Institute for International Steel (AIIS) provides an analysis of steel imports to the U.S. The following January 18 release describes imports for November. Falls Church, VA. January 18, 2016. Steel imports plunged once again in November, dipping to a level more than one-third less than a year earlier. The United States […]
On Tuesday, January 19, the Baltic Dry Index hit its lowest point ever, dropping to 363 points. The BDI tracks shipping rates for dry bulk cargos like iron ore, coal and grain and is considered a barometer for global steel trade. To put things in perspective, six months ago, on August 8, 2015, the Index […]
Often with steel related economic statistics it’s useful to compare a given data stream with others which may or may not be causally related. This usually puts the steel data into context and shows whether a direction change is for real. In this piece we are comparing the price of Chicago shredded scrap with the […]
Figure 1 shows historical gas and oil prices since January 2000. The daily spot price of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) closed at $31.42 on January 11th, down from $36.31 on December 14th, according to the latest daily figure available from the Energy Information Administration (EIA). There have been reports in the press that oil broke […]
Below is the latest release issued by the 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 November 2015 decreased 17.3 percent […]