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This is the Global Economic, Commodities, Scrap Metal and Recycling Report, by our BENLEE Roll off Trailers and Gondola trailers, October 11, 2021. This is Brian Sides reporting while Greg Brown is out of the United States.
U.S. Weekly crude steel production fell to 1.872MT an 84.8% steel mill utilization rate, vs. 91% plus, in 2008. Importantly, demand remains strong as production is slowly trending up.
WTI Crude oil price rose to $79.35/b. It went over $80 last Friday for the first time since November 2014. Furthermore, higher natural gas prices are bringing in oil as a substitute. Also, OPEC and U.S. producers are only very slowly increasing production.
The U.S. Weekly Oil rig count rose to 433 on good demand. Moreover, the very slow increase is bringing the higher prices.
Scrap steel #1 HMS price rose very slightly to $414/GT on good demand and good supply.
Hot Roll Coil Steel Price fell to $96.79/cwt, $1,936/T, near the record. Importantly, this was on continued good demand and tight supply.
Copper price rose to $4.28/lb. on global economic uncertainty and higher energy prices.
Aluminum price rose to $1.31/lb., $2,889/mt. Importantly, this was on strong demand, supply shortages and higher energy prices.
U.S. Trade deficit with the rest of the world. It widened, became worse to $73.3B, a new record high. Importantly, this was on decades of bad policy and on rising imports of pharmaceutical preparations and toys.
U.S. October IBD/TIPP Economic Optimism Index. It fell to 46.8 with below 50 being pessimistic. People are concerned about the economy and government policies, but positive about their personal finances.
U.S. September New Jobs Report, fell to 194,000 the lowest this year. Leisure, hospitality and business services rose the most. Importantly, the lack of workers is holding back the U.S. and global economy.
U.S. September unemployment rate fell to 4.8%, well above February 2020’s 3.5%. But, while some of the decrease is due to more people working, 183,000 people left the workforce. Importantly, when workers leave the workforce, they are not considered unemployed, so that helps the percent unemployment rate.
U.S. Labor participation rate, which is people working or looking for work vs. working age civilians. It fell to 61.6%, as the 183,000 people simply left the workforce. We must get people back into the workforce vs. sitting at home.
U.S. August New orders for manufactured goods. They jumped 1.2% and July was upwardly revised to .7%. Importantly, non-defense aircraft and parts soared 77.9%.
Wall Street’s Dow Jones industrial average, fell 52 points to 37,746 so it remains very high. Moreover, this was on the poor jobs report, the debt increase deal in Washington and on a new record U.S. trade deficit.
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