OEM Insights ~ September 5

Supply Dynamics’ OEM Insights

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Take a look at this week's roundup of the most current and compelling industry news, updates, and trends related to OEMs and anything that impacts them. Read on to discover the latest in:

1. Industry News: Five Emerging Technology Trends With Transformational Impact
2. Trade War: The U.S. and China Agree to Meet in Washington as Trade War Rages On
3. Metal Trends & Market Analysis: Steel—The Rust & Rolled Report

Industry News

• Gartner Identifies Five Emerging Technology Trends With Transformational Impact: Sensing & Motion, Augmented Human, Postclassical Compute and Comms, Digital Ecosystems, and Advanced AI & Analytics are five distinct emerging 2019 technology trends capable of creating and enabling new experiences, including leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) and other constructs to enable organizations to take advantage of emerging digital ecosystems. (Gartner)

• U.S. Manufacturing Gauge Contracts for First Time in Three Years: Data released Tuesday (9/3) showed that The Institute for Supply Management’s purchasing managers index fell to 49.1 in August, weaker than all forecasts in a Bloomberg survey of economists, sending stocks and bond yields lower and boosting expectations for interest-rate cuts as global manufacturing woes deepen. The group’s gauge of new orders dropped to a more than seven-year low, while the production index hit the lowest since late 2015. (Bloomberg)

Trade War 

• The U.S. and China Agree to Meet in Washington as Trade War Rages On: The U.S. and China have agreed to return to the negotiating table in Washington to discuss trade. It will be the first face-to-face meeting between the two sides since the trade war's rapid escalation in recent weeks. The in-person discussions will resume in "early October," according to a statement released in China Thursday (9/5) morning by the country's Commerce Ministry. (CNN Business)
  
  
• U.S.-China Trade War’s Global Impact Grows: On Sunday the U.S. imposed fresh tariffs of 15% on Chinese goods including clothing, tools, and electronics; a round of retaliatory Chinese tariffs also took effect, targeting imports of U.S. soybeans, crude oil, and pharmaceuticals. The escalating trade war between the U.S. and China is rippling through the global economy, hurting confidence among U.S. small businesses, crimping trade among industrial giants in Asia, and hitting export-oriented factories in Europe. (WSJ)

Metal Trends & Market Analysis

• Steel—The Rust & Rolled Report (from LONGBOW Research): Unexpected August steel survey weakness and an increasingly conservative carbon scrap outlook are tipping points behind new carbon steel pricing forecasts for 2H19/2020. We now expect domestic flat-rolled sheet price momentum to reverse, ending two months of strength. Access Longbow’s Key Takeaways here.
  
  

• Chinese Steel Slowdown Slams Iron-Ore Prices: Iron-ore prices posted their biggest one-month fall in almost eight years as China’s huge steel engine cools and global shipments of the commodity rise. The price fell 27% to $85.85 a metric ton by the end of August, the most since October 2011, according to S&P Global Platts. The drop deepened amid sluggishness among the Chinese mills responsible for producing more than half the world’s steel, and concerns over future demand. (WSJ)

About Supply Dynamics

Supply Dynamics provides leading Fortune 500 manufacturers with real-time visibility and control over the “material-input” requirements (metals, plastics, electronics, etc.) of their extended supply chain. Our innovative supply chain analytics solutions allow our customers to reduce the cost of raw materials and component parts that go into their products, enhance collaboration with supply chain stakeholders, and ensure that the timely purchase and supply of material-inputs is never the reason a part is late. To learn more, visit www.supplydynamics.com.