In Steel Market Update's latest newsletter sent to our annual and free trial members, SMU covered the most recent flat rolled steel prices and analysis on the North American steel market, including important updates on domestic steel mills.

One crucial event covered in last night's newsletter was the RG Steel Sparrows Point mill laying off workers and idling its blast furnace. This subject sparked much interest with SMU readers as the impact of this mill's actions are reported in SMU's article along with a letter from the company itself. Nucor also made a major announcement with the closing of its Nuconsteel Division, further covered in an article.

SMU feels our readers deserve accurate and timely information on steel prices, which is why we include an analysis on current market conditions and what the new year has brought forth. We have included the latest price increases, the reason behind them, and customers’ reactions to them. SMU covers the active negotiations between domestic mills and their buyers for hot rolled, cold rolled, galvanized, and Galvalume orders to show whether mills are willing to negotiate pricing.

SMU Buyers Sentiment Index is a measurement of the current attitude of buyers and sellers of flat rolled steel products in North America regarding how they feel about their company's opportunity for growth in today's market. The latest Steel Market Update Steel Buyers Sentiment Index rose 9 points since the middle of December and is now at 41 the highest level recorded since the index began in November 2008. The reason for this high level of optimism is covered in our newsletter.

(Sourced from www.steelmarketupdate.com)