Nucor Steel Raising SBQ Prices $40 Per Ton
Nucor Steel raising SBQ prices for Special Bar Quality hot rolled products by $40 per ton becomes effective with October 1 shipments. The higher transactional pricing covers all hot rolled carbon and alloy bar as well as hot rolled heat treated bar.
The move follows Timken Steel’s $40 per ton increase for SBQ and seamless tube with similar dates of implementation. AMM
US Raw Steel Production Retreated Last Week
US raw steel production retreated 1 percent last week as mills operated at an ACUR of 75.6 percent. In the corresponding week last year mills operated at an ACUR of 70.8 percent. Thus far this year mills have produced prox 57,000,000 tons, up 3% from the prox 56,000,000 tons produced in the like period last year. AMM
Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond Fifth District Survey of Manufacturing Activity Reports August Unchanged
The Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond released its Fifth District Survey of Manufacturing Activity for August 2017 and reports manufacturing activity was largely unchanged in August. Expectations around manufacturing activity six months ahead were somewhat tempered from July but manufacturers remained optimistic. Every index for expected activity was well into positive territory.
China Interested in Buying Jeep
Jeep, the crown jewel of Fiat-Chrysler Automobiles NV and a worldwide symbol of American military and manufacturing might, has an interested Chinese suitor, the latest sign of an industry in the midst of global reshuffling.”
Great Wall Motor Company plans to make a bid for Fiat Chryslers lucrative Jeep brand, known for rugged sport utilities that rose to prominence in World War II as the can-do vehicle of the US military.” WSJ
In my view, this is bullshit and somehow the president should attempt to block such a sale to the Chinese. How do you let China own Jeep? It is un-American.
MSCI World Metals and Mining Index up 13%
Bullish investors are pushing the prices of copper, aluminum and other industrial metals to multiyear highs, betting that recent signs of resurgent global growth and falling supplies will stoke demand for raw materials.
Prices for copper hit their highest level in nearly three years on Monday and zinc sits at its highest price in a decade. Aluminum climbed to three year peaks last week and iron ore has rallied 35% since the end of May. Shares of miners have also soared with the MSCI World Metals and Mining Index up 13% during that span.” WSJ
The Chicago Fed National Activity Index (CFNAI) Moved Down to -0.01 in July from +0.16 in June
Three of the four broad categories of indicators that make up the index decreased from June. The index’s three month moving average (CFNAI-MA3) decreased to -0.05 in July from +0.09 in June.
What is the National Activity Index?
The index is a weighted average of 85 indicators of growth in national economic activity drawn from four broad categories of data:
1) production and income;
2) employment, unemployment, and hours;
3) personal consumption and housing; and
4) sales, orders, and inventories.
Why are there three index values?
Each month, we provide a monthly index (the CFNAI), its three-month moving average, and a diffusion index. Month-to-month movements can be volatile, so the monthly index’s three-month moving average, the CFNAI-MA3, provides a more consistent picture of national economic growth.
The CFNAI Diffusion Index instead captures the degree to which a change in the monthly index is spread out among its 85 indicators, averaged over a three-month period.
What do the numbers mean?
A zero value for the monthly index has been associated with the national economy expanding at its historical trend (average) rate of growth; negative values with below-average growth (in standard deviation units); and positive values with above-average growth.
Periods of economic expansion have historically been associated with values of the CFNAI-MA3 above –0.70 and the CFNAI Diffusion Index above –0.35. Conversely, periods of economic contraction have historically been associated with values of the CFNAI-MA3 below –0.70 and the CFNAI Diffusion Index below –0.35.
An increasing likelihood of a period of sustained increasing inflation has historically been associated with values of the CFNAI-MA3 above +0.70 more than two years into an economic expansion. Similarly, a substantial likelihood of a period of sustained increasing inflation has historically been associated with values of the CFNAI-MA3 above +1.00 more than two years into an economic expansion.
US Census Bureau Manufactured Durable Goods Report
- New orders for manufactured durable goods in July decreased 6.8 percent the US Census Bureau announced on Friday. Excluding transportation (equipment orders dropped 19.0 percent), new orders increased 0.5 percent.
- Shipments of manufactured durable goods in July, up three consecutive months, increased 0.4 percent.
- Inventories of manufactured durable goods in July, up twelve of the last thirteen months, increased 0.3 percent.
Military Transgender Ban
Regarding the military “transgender ban,” considering the deploy ability (the ability of an individual to serve in a war zone, participate in exercises or live for months on a ship) of an individual as the basis for accepting them as a member of the US military is, in my view, a good idea. The liberals will get severe cramps from this but who cares. My questions are: Are transgender individuals joining the military in order to have taxpayers pay for their transition?
Why is it the responsibility of the US military and ultimately, the US taxpayer, to pay for these transitions?
We have a failing healthcare system, a military in bad need of new equipment, ships, planes etc., a tax code in dire need of reform, taxes, both personal and business, which need to be lowered, our children not getting the quality of education they need, veterans not getting the care they need and deserve, a porous border, rampant crime (to name a few items on the president’s agenda) and the Democrats and some Republicans continue to obstruct the president and activists on the left are concerned with the erasure of our rich history and the removal of statues and monuments of the Confederacy which has been gone for over 150 years. Does any of this make sense to anyone? A bunch of clowns…unbelievable!
Infrastructure X (Keystone & Dakota pipelines) Regulation Reform XX 1 in 2 out
Individual Tax Reform Entitlement Reform
Business Tax Reform Education Reform X
Healthcare Reform X rollback begun Veterans Administration Reform X
Rebuild our Military X Trade Reform X
Secure our Borders (The Wall) XX Lead the world from the front XX
Help for the poor Drain the swamp X as we speak
Peace through unmatchable strength Support Israel X
Destroy ISIS X Extreme Vetting XX
Conservative Supreme Court nominees XX American Jobs XX
I will track these campaign promises and will check them off as each is accomplished adding those I have missed as they become apparent. This is quite an agenda and will be difficult to achieve all in one term but I believe the American people are behind him and know these things need to be done. Now, if he can get our legislators to support him instead of fighting him….
“MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN”
Have a great weekend…. God bless America!
Buy American made products whenever you can, it’s good for you, good for your friends and neighbors and good for our country.
If you are hiring…try to hire a veteran…. they are loyal, disciplined, hardworking…and they deserve our support.
By the way, if you wish to comment on my rants or offer any other insights you may have, you are encouraged to email me.
TEDDY ROOSEVELT ON IMMIGRANTS IN AMERICA…1907
In the first place, we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin. But this is predicated upon the person’s becoming in every facet an American and nothing but an American. There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn’t an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag…We have room for but one language here and that is the English language…and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people.”
