In this week's Market Movers Americas, presented by Chris Newkumet:
• Final winter blast to tighten US gas market
• Ballasters to flood midsize tanker tonnage availability
• PJM addresses gas and power market misalignments
• Steel prices could rise after scrap gains
This week, a final blast of wintery weather is forecast to push temperatures in the US Northeast to near-freezing levels, potentially fueling a runup in spot natural gas prices. Stronger heating demand is widely expected to boost withdrawals from gas storage, which could help to narrow a now-massive surplus in domestic inventory.
In shipping, midsize crude tanker freight rates are expected to fall as a slew of ships are slated to arrive in the US Gulf Coast midmonth. The ballasting ships are looking to capitalize on a high-rate environment but are projected to flood the local position list. Freight for trans-Atlantic Aframax runs already fell more than 16% last week from three-month highs.
PJM Interconnection, one of the largest US power markets, is holding an Electric-Gas Coordination task force meeting on Tuesday. The top concerns are natural gas and electric market misalignments, including a need for increased communication between gas pipelines and power market operators to prevent reliability problems like power outages.
Finally, steel hot-rolled coil prices could rise again after scrap raw material prices jumped more than $50/long ton during the March buy week. The scrap market has been boosted by an uptick in Midwest demand for prime grades as buyers battle to secure volumes for busheling. Hot-rolled coil prices stalled last week after steady gains since the start of the year due to steel mill offer increases.
I'm Chris Newkumet. Thanks for kicking off your Monday with S&P Global Commodity Insights.