Steel price licks its wounds as recession fears escalate

Steel price portrays a corrective pullback around the monthly low but stays pressured amid an inactive trading session during the early Monday morning in Europe.

The metal’s recent rebound could be linked to the fears of more supply crunch as South Korea prepares for a very strong typhoon. Also likely to have triggered the rebound is the cautious optimism in the market after the previous day’s downbeat US jobs report.

US employment data marked mixed readings as the headline Nonfarm Payrolls (NFP) rose past 300K forecast to 315K, versus 526K prior, but the Unemployment Rate rose to 3.7% compared to 3.5% expected and prior. Further details reveal that the Average Hourly Earnings reprinted 5.2% growth for August, a bit lesser than the 5.3% market consensus. Also, Factory Orders dropped to -1.0% for July compared to 0.2% forecasts and 1.8% in previous readings.