January 22, 2024
This is the Commodities, Scrap Metal, Recycling and Economic Report, January 22nd, 2024.
U.S. weekly raw steel production fell to 1.67MT on slow U.S. manufacturing.
WTI crude oil price rose to $73.71/b., remaining relatively moderate on the slowing global economy. Also, on a high level of production from the U.S. and other non-OPEC countries.
The U.S. weekly oil rig count fell slightly to 497 on great productivity per well, brought by outstanding U.S. technology.
U.S. weekly crude oil production rose to 13.3Mb/d back to the all-time record in American history from three weeks ago. The U.S. remains the #1 global oil producer and the #2 exporter, yes exporter of crude oil. The slow increase keeps prices moderate, so it does not cause OPEC to get mad at the U.S.
Scrap steel #1 HMS price was steady at $380/GT. There are mixed pricing pressures for February.
Hot-roll coil steel price rose slightly to $54.53/cwt., $1,091/T on slow U.S. manufacturing.
Copper price rose to $3.79/lb., over concerns about long term shortages, but low Chinese demand.
Aluminum price fell to $.99/lb., $2,178/mt on slowing global demand.
Chinese 2023 Economic Growth. Their economy grew at 5.2%, slow by Chinese standards. Leaving out COVID, the slowest since 1990. It was much faster than the U.S.’s approximated 2.5% growth.
U.S. December industrial production increased .1% from November. Industrial production declined at a 3.1% annualized rate in Q4 2023.
U.S. weekly initial unemployment claims fell to 187,000, the lowest in 16 months. This is great for U.S. jobs, but a tight labor market is inflationary.
U.S. December Existing home sales fell to 3.78M annualized the lowest since 2010. The full year 2023 was the lowest in almost 30 years. This was driven by high mortgage rates that are now falling.
U.S. January U of M consumer sentiment survey soared to 78.8 the largest two month jump in 33 years. Expectations surged for businesses and personal finances.
Wall Street’s Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 371 points to 37,864 another all-time record in American History. Inflation is still too high and government deficits have been growing horrifically in the past 7 years. Manufacturing continues to slow as the economy is good, not great.
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