US SBQ Spot Market Prices Slip US SBQ spot market prices slip for most grades of special bar quality (SBQ) in AMM’s latest assessment on Friday 12/14 driven by late year discounting although overall demand remains strong. Sources indicated that lead times stretch from late February to early March 2019. The price for 1.000” Round [...]
The Federal Reserve Bank Will Be Raising Interest Rates The Federal Reserve Bank will be raising interest rates probably every quarter this year as the signs of an improving economy are everywhere. No one likes to pay more for money but at this point in time, were a recession to occur, the Fed would have [...]
Predicated on Recent Announcements by Republic Steel and SDI, Steel Base Prices Going Up Republic Steel's base price increase, which seemed to be in question as of Monday, appears to be solidified by SDI's announcement to do the same. So…steel base prices going up. Special Bar Quality (SBQ) prices have dipped some $10/per ton for [...]
A BRIGHT SPOT: Auto Sales Auto sales in October registered an impressive 18.1 million unit annual pace for a second consecutive month and are on pace for a record year in sales. Institute for Supply Management (ISM) October Report on Business Economic activity in the manufacturing sector expanded in October for the 34th consecutive month [...]
Trans-Pacific Partnership Accord Opens Agricultural Markets in Japan and Canada The US, Japan and 10 other countries around the Pacific reached a historic accord Monday to lower trade barriers to goods and services and sets commercial rules of the road for two-fifths of the global economy. For the US, the Trans-Pacific Partnership accord opens agricultural [...]
US Raw Steel Output US raw steel output rose 3.3 percent last week as mills operated at an ACUR of 72.8 percent. In the corresponding week last year, mills operated at an ACUR of 79.6 percent. On the year mills have produced prox 47,000,000 tons at an ACUR of 72.4 percent, down from prox [...]
US employers resumed a solid pace of hiring last month and the jobless rate fell, priming the economy to snap back from a brutal winter…the unemployment rate fell to 5.4 percent.” WSJ, Friday 5/8/15 5/4/15 Advance Report on Durable Goods Manufacturers’ Shipments, Inventories and Orders March 2015: New Orders for manufactured durable goods in March [...]
Estimated Third Quarter GDP Increased 3.9% According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, real gross domestic product-the value of the production of goods and services in the United States, adjusted for price changes, increased at an annual rate of 3.9 percent in the third quarter of 2014, according to the “second” estimate. In the second [...]
Total Industrial Production rebounded 1.0% in September following a slight 0.2% dip in August. Output for August was revised 0.1 percent lower. Manufacturing output reversed course in September rising 0.5%. The September jump in total production was the largest increase in 22 months but looking beneath the headlines, half the advance can be accounted for [...]
On Friday the government released its third and final estimate of GDP for the 2nd quarter of 2014. It showed GDP in the April, May, June quarter increased at an annual rate of 4.6%. That’s pretty solid growth. This is not the best way to start the week economically: Led by declines in production-related indicators, [...]
