A quick look at a few of the bigger things affecting our business this week.
Steel: Nucor raised hot-rolled coil again on September 8, up $10/ton to $1,200, with SMU’s broader average jumping $20 to $1,225/ton the same week — one of the sharper single-week moves we’ve seen this year. One thing worth watching: the labor contract between the United Steelworkers and U.S. Steel/Cleveland-Cliffs was extended 30 days past its original September 1 deadline while negotiations continue. If that doesn’t resolve cleanly, it’s a real risk to supply on top of everything else already driving prices up.
Oil: A genuinely alarming week. ANS crude rocketed to $115.38 on September 15, up $16.31 — a 16.5% jump — in a single trading week. WTI and Brent followed, up to $105.83 and $108.75. The trigger this time is different from the Iran story we’ve been tracking all summer: Saudi Arabia suspended oil loading operations at its Yanbu port after a Houthi attack on the East-West pipeline that feeds the Red Sea. That’s a direct hit on Saudi export infrastructure, not just a shipping-lane risk, and it’s a new front in what’s already been the most volatile year we’ve seen. Don’t expect this to be the last surprise.
Infrastructure: No new developments this week. Funding remains stable, tracking toward the December 11 deadline for the next round.
Bottom line: Steel just had one of its sharper weekly jumps of the year with a labor risk sitting in the background, and oil just took its biggest single-week move yet on a direct attack on Saudi export infrastructure. Reach out if you want to talk through what any of this means for your project.
Steel: GMK Center, Steel Market Update. Oil: Petroleum News. Posted weekly for our customers — not investment advice.