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04 November 2010
Election day in the USA yesterday resulted in a shift of power, with the Democrats losing control of one of the key components of the nation’s legislative system. While the Democratic party still controls both the White House with President Obama, and the US Senate, the majority of seats in the US House of Representatives is now controlled by the Republican party.
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27 October 2010
North America’s largest steelmakers, including ArcelorMittal, US Steel, and AK Steel, have announced third-quarter losses and expectations of an even weaker final quarter of 2010. Sharply reduced demand from key consuming industries, as well as the persistent slump in construction sector demand, led to price erosion and falling steel shipments in the third quarter.
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20 October 2010
As forecast in the October issue of North American Steel Market Tracker, US service center carbon flat-rolled steel inventories rose in September, according to the latest data from the MSCI. At the end of September, service centers’ stocks of carbon flat-rolled steel rose to 4.55m tons versus 4.49m tons in August. Service center shipments of flat-rolled steel slipped slightly over the month, after posting impressive gains in August.
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13 October 2010
The US Federal Reserve is indicating its support for additional stimulus moves for the US economy. Support within the Fed for stimulus resulted in downward pressure on the value of the US dollar, as global markets perceive additional stimulus would come in the form of another round of quantitative easing. The Fed’s addition of more money into the system would in effect dilute the value of the dollar against other global currencies. With the US dollar not far off a 15-year low against the Japanese yen, and the euro approaching $1.40 on the news, we expect to see additional US dollar weakness in the near term.
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08 October 2010
New claimants registered as actively unemployed declined week-on-week by 2.6% to 453,000. More importantly, the average number of September claimants fell 5.3% back to 458,200, close to July’s average 455,200 level.
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07 October 2010
Japan unilaterally intervenes in the foreign-exchange market to arrest the rising value of the yen.
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07 October 2010
Downloadable Excel files with AMM Research's pricing and other North American steel statistics for the month of October 2010.
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07 October 2010
North American steel price momentum has not faded after a flurry of buying in August and early September.
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07 October 2010
Roundup of AMM Research's North American economic indicators for the month of October 2010.
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07 October 2010
Momentum in scrap prices has faded, and so has finished steel price momentum.
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07 October 2010
There is considerable pressure in the US scrap export market.
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07 October 2010
Long product mills announced further price hikes in September and October.