Final Thoughts

It is rare that market direction is clear and uncontested. There have been a few times during my 42-year steel career when it was obvious prices were going to be higher tomorrow than they are today. It was during one of those times in history that I began writing a note to my steel buying customers. That note was the beginnings of the Steel Market Update newsletter.

At other points in time it was clear to me that the only direction steel prices could go was lower. One of those times was in June 2008 when I remember attending a steel conference in New York City and listening to one Dan DiMicco telling the audience that they were going to pay wherever Nucor set the price. As I sat in the audience, I knew prices could only move in one direction, and I had already seen signs of the great crash that followed. That conference was one of the catalysts that resulted in my taking SMU as a product to the greater steel community.