Posts tagged as:

Recession

Could the steel industry recession be over?

July 1, 2009

Well it might be – technically. Plenty of people seem to want to say it is in the broader economy. On June 10th the UK’s Guardian newspaper reported the UK recession as being over. Then a week later Liz Sonders, Chief Investment Strategist at Charles Schwab said the US recession is over. There have been […]

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How long might this recession last?

February 23, 2009

The current economic downturn has wreaked significant havoc on the global economy and on the steel industry.  Not surprisingly we are all wondering “How long will this recession last and how bad will it get?”  Of course, no one knows.  But there are some historical precedents and while history may not provide a clear answer, […]

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2009 will be tough for steel – but how tough?

January 6, 2009

2009 will be a difficult year for the global steel industry.  How bad it gets and what happens on the other side of the global slowdown is impossible to predict. But there is no shortage of observers willing to paint a bleak picture.  In a recent article in the Financial Times, Peter Marsh summed up the […]

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Steel industry capacity utilization falls below 70%

November 5, 2008

Data just released by the AISI shows raw steel capacity utilization at 67.3% during the last week of October, down from close to 90% a couple months ago.  How does utilization below 70% compare to previous recessions?  And how long might it last?  A review of historical data is always a good place to start […]

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Is R for recession or resilience?

January 9, 2008

Goldman Sachs reported today that it believes the US economy will suffer a recession in 2008, and Goldman is not alone.  It seems everyone is worried about the impact of the credit crunch and high energy costs on US consumers.  So, what might a recession mean for shipments by steel producers in the US in 2008?  There is clearly […]

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