Commodities, Scrap Metal, Recycling and Economic Report March 11, 2024

This is the Commodities, Scrap Metal, Recycling and Economic Report, March 11th, 2024.

U.S. weekly raw steel production fell to 1.72MT on slow U.S. manufacturing.

WTI crude oil price fell slightly to $78.01/b. The market is cautious about Chinese demand as OPEC+ production cuts are holding.

U.S. weekly crude oil production fell slightly to 13.2Mb/d, just off the record high of 13.3M. Production is forecast to increase slowly to new record highs.

The U.S. weekly oil rig count fell to 504, with near record production. This is supporting the very slow increases.

Scrap steel #1 HMS price fell to about $330/GT on continued slowing global manufacturing and good supply.

Hot-roll coil steel price fell to $39.94/cwt, $799/T on continued slow U.S. manufacturing.

Copper price rose to $3.89/lb., on increased Chinese demand and increased talk of U.S. rate cuts.

Aluminum price rose slightly to $1.02/lb., $2,250/mt. on increased talk of a ban on Russian aluminum.

U.S. February Logistics Manager’s index, which measures inventory levels, warehouse capacity, and transportation costs and capacity. It rose to 56.6 the highest in 4 months. All measures improved meaning improvement in the economy.

U.S. March Real Clear Markets/TIPP Economic Index fell to 43.5, which was below forecast. Consumers were negative about the next 6 months for the economy, but were more positive about personal finances, as 401Ks are near record levels.

U.S. February new jobs report. The U.S. created a strong 275K jobs, beating the 200k forecast, as January was revised down. The good news is considered inflationary as high labor demand could raise salaries too much.

U.S. February Unemployment rate rose to 3.9%. This bad news is good news, as in it will take pressure off the tight labor market, which reduces inflation.

U.S. February total employment, rose to 157.8M, the most in American history. Good jobs, good productivity, falling inflation and higher wages are all good news for economic growth.

Wall Street’s Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 364 points to 38,723, but still near the near all-time high. This was on mixed reports on growth and interest rates, with good job growth.