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This is the Global Economic, Commodities, Scrap Metal and Recycling Report by our BENLEE Roll off Trailers and Gondola Trailers, Scrap Haulers, May 9th, 2022.
U.S. weekly crude steel production fell to 1.775MT. This was on slow U.S. growth and cheaper imports taking market share.
The U.S. Dollar index. The U.S. dollar vs. other global currencies. When the U.S. dollar rises, commodity prices mostly go down. The dollar rose to 103.4, near a 20-year high, caused by higher U.S. interest rates.
WTI crude oil price rose to $109.77/b. This was on the European Union’s impending embargo on all Russian oil.
U.S. weekly crude oil production was steady at 11.9Mb/d, up less than 1% in the past 4 months. Oil companies are keeping production low. Low production supports OPEC with global high prices, bringing high profits.
The U.S. weekly oil rig count rose to 557. The rise will soon bring an increase in production.
Scrap steel #1 HMS price fell to about $410/GT. The strong dollar is bringing lower priced scrap into the U.S. and less U.S. scrap exports.
Hot roll coil steel price fell to $71.04/cwt, $1,441/T on slow economic growth and lower scrap prices.
Copper price fell to $4.25/lb., on the strong dollar. Also, on demand concerns with Chinese lockdowns.
Aluminum price fell to $1.39/lb., $3,057/mt on the strong U.S. Dollar. Also, on the same demand concerns with Chinese lockdowns.
China April Caxin Composite (Manufacturing and services) PM Index. It plunged to 37.2. Under 50 is contraction. New orders fell at the 2nd fastest rate ever, as selling prices dropped.
U.S. ISM Manufacturing PM index, which is also business confidence. It fell to 55.4, dropping the 2nd month in a row. There were slowing new orders and production, as backlogs decreased.
U.S. March trade deficit of goods and services. Last week we showed the goods only deficit. The deficit fell, became worse to $109.8B, a new record, on the rise in the price of imported oil, and a sharp increase in finished metal shapes.
U.S. April new jobs gained 428,000, the 12th straight month above 400,000. Great progress, but still down 1.2M jobs from pre-COVID.
The U.S. April unemployment rate was steady at 3.6%, but the labor force participate rate fell to 62.2%. Also, labor productivity fell 7.5%, the biggest drop since 1947.
Wall Street’s Dow Jones industrial average fell 912 points to 32,899. This was on a tighter monetary supply which is the opposite of printing dollars along with higher interest rates. It was the 5th straight weekly loss, the longest losing streak in 11 years.
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