Loading price data
This is the Scrap Metal, Commodities, Recycling and Economic Report, by BENLEE and Raleigh and Goldsboro Recycling, November 6th, 2017.
Last week commodity prices were mixed and economic reports were mostly positive.
U.S steel production rose slightly remaining well ahead of last year due to good demand, yet with a high level of imported finished steel.
Oil rose about $1.50/barrel to $62.07 an almost two year high as OPEC continues lower production and global demand stays solid. The U.S. oil rig count fell 8 to 729, despite higher prices.
Iron ore fell $2/MT to $60.00, as prices remain somewhat stable on good demand. Prices have stabilized at the lower level they hit in the past couple of months.
Scrap ferrous prices will be mostly flat for the month, with some downward pressure for prime grades. With scrap flows just fair, but demand slightly improving, there could be upward pressure on prices in the months to come.
Hot dipped galvanized steel held at $980/T, as upward pressure continues and Nucor announced a $40/Ton increase on plate.
Stainless 304 scrap prices remained steady yet again at 29.5 cents, on the balance of supply and demand.
Copper rose a penny cents to $3.11 and is showing signs of stabilization near a multiyear high. Copper is up 4 cents this morning to $3.15.
The 5 year chart shows copper in a range near the 3 year high it hit three weeks ago.
Copper inventories held steady, while falling in recent weeks which will keep upward pressure on prices.
Aluminum rose about penny, ending at 98.6 cents, staying near a 6 plus year high. High prices have brought great flows into smelters, therefore true prices and deliveries into smelters are not as high as the index would lead one to believe.
Aluminum inventories fell to yet new about 10 year lows keeping upward pressure on prices.
October’s China’s Caixin Manufacturing PMI stood at 51 with output and new orders growing as confidence softened and exports increased while employment fell. Government directives to reduce pollution have slowed industrial growth.
U.S. personal spending rose a huge 1.0 percent month over month, the largest one month gain in about 18 years, as households recover from the hurricanes, led by high automotive sales and utilities output.
U.S. vehicle sales fell to an annualized 18.09 million with sales remaining near 10 year highs. A great number.
The U.S. unemployment rate fell to a new about 17 year low of 4.1 percent as the number of unemployed has dropped by 1.1M since January.
October U.S. non-farm payrolls increased by a strong 261,000 after a very poor 18,000 in September due to the hurricanes. Job creation remains strong especially in manufacturing. Great numbers, but they are below the levels we saw in 2014 and 2015 when we had multiple months of over 300,000 new jobs created.
4.1 percent is a very low number but when we look at what is called the labor participation rate, which is people over 16 year old that could work, it shows that only about 63 percent of the people that could work are working. So about 37% are not working, meaning there is a great upside to getting people to work.
The U6 measures unemployed U.S. workers that want a full time job, combined with part time workers that want a full time job. That is 7.9 percent down from about 17% in 2009.
Wall Street’s main indexes all hit new record highs with the DOW up 105 points at 23,539 as the global economy remains in a steady slow growth mode.
At BENLEE safety remains #1 in all we do. For those that have not yet retrofitted your older trailers with our Safety Look Up sign to warn drivers about the real hazard of Electrocution, call us to buy them for your fleet.
Member