This is the Global Economic, Commodities, Scrap Metal and Recycling Report, by our BENLEE Roll off Trailers and Gondola Trailers, Scrap Haulers, March 7th, 2022.
U.S. weekly crude steel production fell to 1.755MT on good demand, but growing imports.
WTI crude oil price jumped to $115.68/b., on supply disruptions as companies reduce buying Russian oil.
U.S. weekly oil production remained steady at 11.6Mb/d., down 1.5Mb/d, from pre COVID. Low supply is bringing high prices. Oil company cash flows are at record levels.
U.S. weekly imports of Russian oil, averaged about .08Mb/d in February. Real, but a very low number. Russian imports were zero for 7 years but restarted in October 2020.
The U.S. weekly oil rig count fell to 519. High oil prices should bring more rigs online.
Scrap steel #1 HMS price rose to about $440/GT, with the price still settling. There is good demand, as bad weather hurt supply.
Hot roll coil steel price rose to $52.75/cwt, $1,056/T. This was on higher scrap, coal, and other higher energy prices.
Copper price jumped to $4.92/lb., a record high on worries of supply disruptions, while demand is high. Chile the largest producer had its lowest January output since 2011.
Aluminum price jumped to $1.75/lb., $3,857/mt. This was on supply disruptions to and from Russia, which is 6% of global production.
U.S. January goods trade deficit. It widened to $107.6 a new record. Capital goods and vehicles led imports., exports of consumer goods and vehicles fell. Total was down 1.8% from December. Decades of poor policy show no signs of reversing.
U.S. February new jobs report, added 678,000 new jobs, the most in 11 months. There was widespread growth, led by leisure and hospitality.
U.S. February unemployment rate fell to 3.8% a new pandemic low. The number of unemployed fell 243,000, to 6.27M.
U.S. February labor force participation rate. This is people 16 years old or older, looking for work or are working. It rose slightly to 62.3%, so 37.7% of people 16 years old or older are not working and not even looking for work.
U.S. February Markit U.S. manufucating purchasing manager’s index. It was revised lower to 57.3 but is still very high. There was a stronger upturn in manufacturing, with higher output and new orders.
Wall Street’s Dow Jones Industrial Average. It fell 444 points to 33,615 on the very good jobs report, but hot inflation, which may get worse. The U.S. Federal Reserve said they will raise interest rates .25% in March, to slow the economy.
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