U.S.’s largest recycler of steel scrap, Nucor Corporation (NUE), has announced its guidance for its third quarter ending Oct. 3, 2009. Nucor expects losses of 15 cents to 20 cents per share in the quarter. The Zacks Consensus Estimate expects a loss of 15 cents. Helped by increased sales volumes, Nucor posted a second quarter loss narrower than the Zacks Consensus Estimate. Net loss in the quarter was $133.3 million or 43 cents per diluted share. This was against a net loss of $189.6 million or 60 cents per diluted share in the prior quarter of 2009, an improvement of 30%. However, the results are dismal compared to net income of $580.8 million or $1.94 per diluted share in the second quarter of 2008. This was attributed to a fall in both pricing and sales volume. The company suffers from continued low operating rates and the ...

There are conflicting voices about oil.  Some say too much is available and demand is falling.  Others say demand is rising and reduced exploration will contribute to a new boom.  Some say oil is responding to the equities rally. Charts show oil with upward tendencies weeks before equities began to rise.

Here are some important media snippets with mixed bullish and bearish messages:

(April 9 Wall Street Journal) U.S. petroleum inventories sit at about 360 million barrels, their highest level since 1993, …  McKinsey [report] suggests that energy demand may snap back more quickly than many observers project, driven by strong demand growth from developing countries. …If the world economy returns to moderate growth, energy demand will increase about 2.3% a year between 2010 and 2020, nearly a full point faster than the period from 2006 to 2010 …  Developing regions will account for more than 90% of the growth, led by

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The steel business faces its biggest hurdle in 60 years with some analysts predicting double digit production cuts in 2009. Now, a sudden change in China trade policy may spell even more trouble for Western steelmakers, as Beijing is currently considering measures to shore up its ailing steel industry with new export policies.

According to World Steel Dynamics, a U.S. steel consulting firm, steel production could fall next year by 13.9% compared with this year. This downturn comes after a long period of growth in the steel industry. In fact, output has grown every year since 1998 - soaring from 777 million metric tons a decade ago to 1.34 billion metric tons in 2007.

The catalyst behind the expansion has been a robust world economy and a steep rise in demand in China - by far the world’s biggest steel producing and consuming nation, accounting for more than a third

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The steel business faces its biggest hurdle in 60 years with some analysts predicting double digit production cuts in 2009. Now, a sudden change in China trade policy may spell even more trouble for Western steelmakers, as Beijing is currently considering measures to shore up its ailing steel industry with new export policies. According to World Steel Dynamics, a U.S. steel consulting firm, steel production could fall next year by 13.9% compared with this year. This downturn comes after a long period of growth in the steel industry. In fact, output has grown every year since 1998 - soaring from 777 million metric tons a decade ago to 1.34 billion metric tons in 2007. The catalyst behind the expansion has been a robust world economy and a steep rise in demand in China - by far the world’s biggest steel producing ...

The base metals were all flashing red again on Wednesday. Copper hit the skids in the late pre-dawn hours and fell through to mid-morning, after which it caught some buying, but not enough to return it to break-even as it finished at $1.5409/lb., down 4 1/3 cents.

Nickel declined pretty steadily straight through, closing at its intraday low of $4.0574/lb., down 14¾ cents. Zinc had a series of sharp ups and downs, ending with a loss of over three-quarters of a cent, at $0.5102/lb. Aluminum sagged continuously for a second straight day, settling at its intraday low of $0.7064/lb., down 3½ cents, while lead also plunged to its intraday low of $0.4368/lb., down 4½ cents.

Copper slipped to its lowest level since July 2005 on, no surprise, global economic concerns.

For a change, inventories monitored by the LME were off, but not by much. Stockpiles fell 250 metric tons on Wednesday, to

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Recent stories about Russian passports being distributed in Crimea, Ukraine have raised quite a ruckus. But that doesn't seem to be the only place in the Ukraine with some ethnic nationalism issues, and a new report we've translated from Izvestiya after the jump tells the story of Moscow's possible assistance to the Ruthenians - a fiercely independent group located in Transcarpathia, the western-most Oblast of the country, near the Polish, Slovakian, Hungarian, and Romanian borders. For centuries, the region was part of the Austro-Hungarian empire and known as Subcarpathia. (Everything depends on where you’re looking from: if your vantage point is Vienna or Budapest, the region is in the foothills “below” the Carpathian mountains, hence “Subcarpathia”. But if you’re looking from Moscow or Kiev, it’s on the “other side” of the mountains, hence “Transcarpathia”!) After ...

Recent stories about Russian passports being distributed in Crimea, Ukraine have raised quite a ruckus. But that doesn't seem to be the only place in the Ukraine with some ethnic nationalism issues, and a new report we've translated from Izvestiya after the jump tells the story of Moscow's possible assistance to the Ruthenians - an ethnic group located in Transcarpathia, the western-most Oblast of the country, near the Polish, Slovakian, Hungarian, and Romanian borders. For centuries, the region was part of the Austro-Hungarian empire and known as Subcarpathia. (Everything depends on where you’re looking from: if your vantage point is Vienna or Budapest, the region is in the foothills “below” the Carpathian mountains, hence “Subcarpathia”. But if you’re looking from Moscow or Kiev, it’s on the “other side” of ...

American optimism at all-time low, 2009 recession imminent… Fannie and Freddie to the rescue? Chris Mayer with good news for oil investors. Another day, another double-digit decline… Russian market, currency plummeting. Pat Cox with a “huge” breakthrough medical tech about to become reality. Have we hit a nerve? The automaker debate rages on in The 5’s inbox

Oy. “The $700 billion financial bailout program,” the New York Times sums up Treasury Secretary Paulson’s speech this morning, “will not be used to buy troubled mortgage-backed assets, as originally intended. Instead, capital would be provided directly to nonbank companies, as well as banks and financial institutions, and that more would be done to prevent home foreclosures.”

Is it any wonder 83% of Americans think the U.S. is “headed in the wrong direction”?

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American optimism at all-time low, 2009 recession imminent… Fannie and Freddie to the rescue? Chris Mayer with good news for oil investors. Another day, another double-digit decline… Russian market, currency plummeting. Pat Cox with a “huge” breakthrough medical tech about to become reality. Have we hit a nerve? The automaker debate rages on in The 5’s inbox

Oy. “The $700 billion financial bailout program,” the New York Times sums up Treasury Secretary Paulson’s speech this morning, “will not be used to buy troubled mortgage-backed assets, as originally intended. Instead, capital would be provided directly to nonbank companies, as well as banks and financial institutions, and that more would be done to prevent home foreclosures.”

Is it any wonder 83% of Americans think the U.S. is “headed in the wrong direction”?

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Trading on the NASDAQ Capital Market, Taylor Devices Inc. designs, develops, manufactures, and markets shock absorption, rate control, and energy storage devices. As part of the Diversified Machinery industry, they are a leading manufacturer of shock absorbers, liquid springs, shock isolation systems, seismic isolators, vibration dampers, and powerplant snubbers, among other products. Incorporated in 1955, the company’s products offer turnkey solutions to shock and vibration problems.

Taylor makes their products for use in various types of vehicles, machinery, equipment, and structures. They serve the industrial, steel mills, buildings, bridges, aerospace, defense, and automotive markets. Headquartered in North Tonawanda, New York, they have five production facilities. They provide complete analysis, and testing capabilities to their customers’ to meet their specific requirements for their products.

The company has two interconnected production plants. One is for “Small Manufacturing” and the other is for “Large Manufacturing”. The Small Parts plant produces all Taylor products that are

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