This is the Global Economic, Commodities, Scrap Metal and Recycling Report, by BENLEE Roll off Trailers and pup roll off Trailers, February 10th, 2020.
To begin, the Coronavirus that started in China is spreading. It will probably have a major material effect on the global economy, especially with China being key to global manufacturing. Yesterday China committed to spend $10 Billion to stop the spread.
U.S. weekly steel production fell to 1.914 Million tons on continued economic slowing.
Oil fell to $50.38 a barrel, as global demand slows due to the Coronavirus. OPEC and Russia are considering more production cuts to keep prices up.
U.S. weekly oil production fell to 12.9 million barrels per day, near the all-time record. Lower prices are hurting oil company profits and could slow production.
Iron ore fell hard to $83.00/Ton, near a one year low, on coronavirus fears.
Scrap steel #1 HMS price fell about $30/GT to about $230/GT on strong supply vs. demand. We will have more exacting numbers next week.
Hot roll coil steel fell to $29.64/Hundred, on slow demand. Prices could fall further as scrap prices fall.
Copper rose to $2.55 per pound after hitting multi year lows during the week. Coronavirus remains the key driver, due to China consumes about 50% of the world’s copper.
Aluminum fell to 76.8 cents per pound, a multiyear low on the same Coronavirus concerns.
JP Morgan’s January Global PMI, Purchasing Manager’s Index, which is an economic indicator, rose to 52.20, a 10-month high, showing faster growth with output rising, BUT this data was pre-Coronavirus concerns.
January’s U.S. Jobs Report, which is New Jobs, rose 225,000, which is a good report. We have now had 9.3 Years straight of increases. 9.3 Years!
January’s U.S. Labor force participation rate which is all people over 16 years of age that can work and are working, rose to 63.4, a slow 4.5-year increase. Great that this is going up. This means only 63.4% of people that could work are working. We need this to be higher.
January’s U.S. unemployment rate rose to 3.6%, But this is good news, due to more people are looking for work, vs. sitting at home on their sofas, not working.
January’s Coal mining jobs fell to 51,100, now up 100, yes just 100 in 3 years. Note the commitment was high wage coal jobs would be roaring back. 1985 high was 177,500 jobs.
Wall Street’s Dow Jones Average rose 846 points to 29,102, hitting a new record during the week, but fell on Friday due to the negative effect of the Coronavirus on the global economy.
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