Metal Monday December 20, 2021 with Nick Snyder and Brett Ekart.
Play the youtube video and follow along with the text below.
Nick Snyder:
All right. Welcome, everybody. Got a Metal Monday for you. We got, what is it, two more? Two more for the year?
Brett Ekart:
Yeah, I think this one and one more after this.
Nick Snyder:
One more. I'm going to have to do it via Zoom, but I ain't going to miss the last one.
Brett Ekart:
Yeah.
Nick Snyder:
So we'll do a Zoom one because I'll be visiting some family up in Seattle, in the Kent area.
Brett Ekart:
I like it.
Nick Snyder:
But anyway. So last week, had a rough week, a rough... Copper just got beat up. But then Thursday, Friday it came back, you know?
Brett Ekart:
Yeah.
Nick Snyder:
So, I mean, boy, we got... How low did it get, $4.10-ish?
Brett Ekart:
Yeah, it got into that... I think I saw it like $4.08, $4.09, somewhere in there.
Nick Snyder:
Yeah, somewhere like there.
Brett Ekart:
And then both the FOMC came out and talked about-
Nick Snyder:
What's that?
Brett Ekart:
Basically, they basically came out... That's where they were talking about the interest rates and what they were going to do for 2022 and 2023, and how they were going to start basically pulling back on some of the bond... Basically the short-term money buying, taking some liquidity out of the market. So I don't know, I feel like it was one of those, basically everybody was maybe anticipating it to be worse, or more hawkish than it was, and so then everybody's like, "All right, maybe it's not as bad as we thought, so let's juice the markets again."
Nick Snyder:
Okay. The dollar has just been on a tear too, been looking real strong. You think that's where a lot of the downturn came from?
Brett Ekart:
Yeah. I mean, that never helps the cause on the commodity side.
Nick Snyder:
Yeah. It didn't seem to affect it for a while, though.
Brett Ekart:
No.
Nick Snyder:
You know what I mean? And then it kind of, I didn't know if it was late, or it was kind of catching up, you know?
Brett Ekart:
Where you really see it, though, where that's really going to hurt is... The Turkish lira has just been getting decimated, especially against the dollar, which, that hurts the export market. Not namely as much as on the west coast, but the east coast guys, they'll feel that.
Nick Snyder:
Okay.
Brett Ekart:
But I don't know... The way that this year is ending, it kind of feels like everybody's just kind of set for the year and there's just, nobody's really trying to make a big move either way, other than, so it just takes the liquidity out of the market. So the market's super easy to push up and pull down, and I think the real tell-tale sign is going to be kind of January of next year and kind of where we can kind of anticipate maybe this thing going.
Nick Snyder:
You still think ferrous up January? You still think we see some ups?
Brett Ekart:
You know, it doesn't feel like that right now. You know what a difference a week makes, but it feels like they're trying to take some gas out of it, but I don't know. I'd like to see a sideways market, maybe up market. We'll see, but it really is going to probably depend on if anything crazy happens with this whole Omicron COVID variant and whatever else happens between now and the end of this year.
Nick Snyder:
Gotcha. Well, I guess we'll just have to wait and see. Got one more for the year to give everyone and we'll keep everyone in the loop of what's happening out there.
Brett Ekart:
I'm cautiously optimistic, but I also know how this thing goes, you know?
Nick Snyder:
Yeah, it definitely feels like they're trying to pull it down.
Brett Ekart:
It feels softened, it's softened it up a little bit.
Nick Snyder:
Like a month ago, I felt completely different about it.
Brett Ekart:
I know, I know.
Nick Snyder:
But we'll see. We'll see where it lands.
Brett Ekart:
Time will tell, right?
Nick Snyder:
Yep.
Brett Ekart:
Well, I hope everybody has a merry Christmas and we'll catch one more before we wish everybody a happy new year.
Nick Snyder:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Brett Ekart:
And I know I'm looking forward to Christmas with my family and it's going to be a good time. I'm going to shut her down for a couple days and go hang out with my family.
Nick Snyder:
Good for you. All right, everyone, enjoy your Christmas.
Brett Ekart:
All right, guys. Have a great day.