Prices of hot rolled steel in the US are holding steady within a range of $1,060-1100/short ton, and cold rolled steel is flat at $1,190-1,220/st as market participants absolrb the news that US Steel would be acquired by Nippon Steel, Kallanish understands.

The news of an America icon selling out to a Japanese company is a preoccupation of the United Steelworkers union, government representatives from all colors of the political spectrum and various market participants, including other mills.

“It’s slow right now. Everyone is waiting to see what will happen with the sale since this week is already a slow one,” says a mill source.

A different mill source agrees that focus on the markets has been curbed.

“Big news this week," that producer source observes. "My focus has been on this news, not the market. I would say that order entry rates have been slightly higher the last five days, but not a surge. Slightly higher and steady. We’ll see how these last three work days before the holiday evolve."

The operator of a distribution centre thinks buyers are uneasy.

“Orders are barely trickling in. I don’t know anyone more skeptical of buying than our customers right now,” the distributor says.

Prices for HRC and CRC in the equivalent week last year were $690-710/st and $870-950/st respectively.

All prices are ex-works domestic mill.