Commodities, Scrap Metal, Recycling and Economic Report

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This is the Commodities, Scrap Metal, Recycling and Economic Report, February 26th, 2024.

U.S. weekly raw steel production rose slightly to 1.72MT on the slow U.S. manufacturing economy.

WTI crude oil price fell to $76.49/b. The delay in lowering U.S. interest rates is slowing the economy, which is good, so that is hurting demand.

U.S. weekly crude oil production was steady at 13.3Mb/d., the all-time high in American history. The U.S. will probably continue very slow increases to not get OPEC mad. If OPEC loses too much market share they will flood the market. Then prices will fall and U.S. drillers will be hurt.

The U.S. weekly oil rig count rose to 503 on great productivity per well and very slow increases in drilling.

Scrap steel #1 HMS price fell to $365/GT on soft U.S. and export demand. Prices could fall $20/GT or more in March.

Hot-roll coil steel price fell to $42.62/cwt., $852/T on the slow demand and good supply.

Copper price rose to $3.87/lb., near a three month high. There was a major increase in Chinese copper inventories, but looser Chinese monetary policy was announced to boost demand.

Aluminum price fell to $.99/lb., $2,184/mt., as the U.S. did not add aluminum to the new Russian sanctions that were announced this last week.

U.S. Existing January Home Sales rose to 4.0M annualized on lower mortgage rates but are at the level of the 1970s.

U.S. Natural Gas price fell to $1.60 per million British Thermal units. This is great to help lower inflation. Prices fell due to being near or at a record warm winter, so there are great supplies. Some U.S. companies are planning production cuts to get prices up.

U.S. weekly jobless claims fell to 201,000 with under 300,000 being a good growth economy. The continued tight job market brings inflation, so higher for longer interest rates, but again this is a good growth economy.

U.S. February S&P global composite PM index, which is manufacturing and services combined. It fell slightly to 51.4, as manufacturing increased at a faster pace, while services fell. Overall, the economy continues to grow as over 50 means growth.

U.S. February S&P global manufacturing PM index, rose to 51.5 with over 50 being expansion. This is a good, not a great number but it is even better than a year after the big 2018 tax cut.

Wall Street’s Dow Jones Industrial average rose 514 points to 39,132 hitting a new high on Friday. Nvidia had huge growth bringing hopes of great productivity and investment in the economy.

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As always, feel free to call or email me with any questions and we hope all have a safe and profitable week.

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