Commodities, Scrap Metal, Recycling and Economic Report

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This is the Commodities, Scrap Metal, Recycling and Economic Report, August 28th, 2023.

U.S. weekly raw steel production rose slightly to 1.756MT, on good exports and steady U.S. demand.

WTI crude oil price fell to $80.21/b., as Iranian exports hit a 4.5 year high and high U.S. production.

The U.S. weekly oil rig count fell to 512, the lowest in about 18 months on higher productivity per well and concerns over slowing demand.

U.S. weekly crude oil production rose to 12.7Mb/d the highest in about 3 years. This was on good U.S. oil exports as the U.S. is gaining global market share of oil.

Scrap Steel #1 HMS price was steady at $330/GT with no clear direction for prices for next month.

Hot-rolled coil steel price fell to $36.65/cwt., $733/T on slow demand as the global economy slows.

Copper price rose to $3.77/lb., on China’s stimulus measures. Note that China consumes about 50% of global copper.

Aluminum price rose to .98/lb., $2,143/mt., on good supply and Chinese stimulus.

U.S. Federal Reserve Speech by Jerome Powell. Key points where Inflation is too high and economic growth is accelerating which is inflationary. Consumer spending is robust, but there is a softening labor market. We need below trend growth to cool inflation and ready to increase interest rates if we need to.

U.S. July Durable Goods Orders, plummeted 5.2% vs June, the sharpest decline since COVID started. There was a huge 14.3% drop in transportation equipment, mostly aircraft. Excluding aircraft, orders were up .5%.

U.S. August U of M Consumer Sentiment Index was revised lower to 69.5, as current conditions were viewed as lower. Also, inflation expectations for the year ahead were raised to 3.5% from 3%.

Existing July home sales fell 2.2% to 4.07M annualized, on higher mortgage rates and limited inventory. The average price was $406,700 up 1.9% from last year. Note the Federal Reserve likes slower sales to reduce inflation.

U.S. July sales of new family homes rose 4.4% to 714K annualized with an average price of $513,000 vs. $564,000 last year. The Federal Reserve is concerned that the rise in sales volume is inflationary.

Wall Street’s Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 154 points to 34,501 despite positive economic data. That was mixed with higher interest rate comments by the Federal Reserve. A huge issue is how serious will China’s slow down effect the global economy.

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