Anyone think scrap prices will go up after President Trump is sworn in?

**Repurposer** · 01-13-2017, 09:00 AM

After retiring I got in to scrapping. This was back in 2006. My loads of shred average 1500 to 1800 pounds. I used to make good money everytime at the yard. Brass radiators would bring good money. Now everytime I sell 1500 pounds of shred I walk away with $40 bucks if I am lucky. I am hoarding my copper and copper wire and the brass radiators. I have about 20 of them piled up. I recently sold 900 pounds of motors. I won't say how much I did not get. If it was not for my interest in repurposing and keeping things out of the landfill I would stop all together. I had to put restrictions on how far I will go to pick up stuff. Got to where it was costing me to haul people's scrap away. Anyone forcast a rise in scrap prices after the innauguration of President Trump. His affect on the stock market has been remarkable. Might do it for commodities as well. What do you think?

**alloy2** · 01-14-2017, 01:23 AM

Originally Posted by Repurposer

After retiring I got in to scrapping. This was back in 2006. My loads of shred average 1500 to 1800 pounds. I used to make good money everytime at the yard. Brass radiators would bring good money. Now everytime I sell 1500 pounds of shred I walk away with $40 bucks if I am lucky. I am hoarding my copper and copper wire and the brass radiators. I have about 20 of them piled up. I recently sold 900 pounds of motors. I won't say how much I did not get. If it was not for my interest in repurposing and keeping things out of the landfill I would stop all together. I had to put restrictions on how far I will go to pick up stuff. Got to where it was costing me to haul people's scrap away. Anyone forcast a rise in scrap prices after the innauguration of President Trump. His affect on the stock market has been remarkable. Might do it for commodities as well. What do you think?

No not significantly in the first two years.

**alloy2** · 01-14-2017, 04:36 PM

How many forum members plan to attend Trump's inauguration.

**mikeinreco** · 01-14-2017, 04:57 PM

Originally Posted by alloy2

How many forum members plan to attend Trump's inauguration.

A better question may be who is going to watch it on tv.........I remember in the 80's we never missed Reagan give a speech or address the nation........Honestly I can't remember when Obama actually had something to say or if he did I don't think anyone cared........People will watch Trump just for the entertainment value.......Even those who hate him will watch to see what he says

**miked** · 01-14-2017, 06:16 PM

I do try to keep my politics out of this forum but I will say I am hopeful. I will watch the actual swearing in.

As for President Reagan I still like listening to his speeches on youtube. Mike

**jimicrk** · 01-14-2017, 06:41 PM

I plan on watching it.

**armygreywolf** · 01-14-2017, 06:45 PM

Trade market and commodities dont usually go hand in hand in the same direction. When the market is strong, less hedge on commodites. What we can hope for is increased demand. It won't happen right away but lets say we are able to get domestic production of general goods up say...25% by 2020. That could translate to 15-20% base metals rise...or it could not. It's hard to tell since commodities are a world market participant. If we push china out for domestic labor it probably wont work in our favor to increase metal prices at all.

However, let's say we increase the purchase strength and velocity of cash in our country. That means more construction, more roads, bridges, things start getting fixed. We are building and repairing all kinds of things, burying underground cable...bolstering infrastructure. THAT will translate directly. Bernie talked about exactly that, and it appears Trump is after the same thing. They both say that giving us better roads, stronger power grids and a better way to move material (rail, road and air) and people is the faster we can make money. It also means steel prices go up, zinc, copper and aluminum will all go up. I wouldn't be surprised if we see lead skyrocket along with tin and carbide should this initiative gain real ground over the course of his presidency.

In my opinion, the latter is the only thing that will bring a price increase for us, gold demand is down so is silver demand. I am NOT expecting much increase in PMs not even if we see an economic downturn and theres more than a few economists saying the same, none feel there will be a rush to hedge like what happened with the early Obama presidency as a result of the mortgage bust. And spoiler, I'm not an economist or financial analyst but I do handle my own portfolio.

**EuclidPrime** · 02-02-2017, 02:01 PM

There is a large chance prices will rise
I work in the energy sector I can tell you these things that I know as an insider just doing my 9-5 as a grunt
1) Coal fired power plants, are going to be running for the next 4 years easily.
There is a lot of demand right now, by the contractors that work on the coal fired equipment to do repairs, they are booked
This equipment uses a lot of steel, super alloy and cortin
2) the pipe line is going to be made of steel rolled from american mills
3) all of these things require a lot of copper wire as well.
I think it might look good in 2018