On September 14, North Carolina, US-based steelmaker Nucor Corporation stated that its third quarter performance will be an improvement over the first quarter but down significantly from the second quarter due to lower margins caused by higher scrap costs and the inability to pass along these price increases.
Reiterating its statement in July, the company said that it is not clear whether the upward trend in the steel markets experienced through the first half of the year will continue. "There is a general slowdown taking place across all product lines as the overall economy has entered into a new period of uncertainty," the company said, while announcing guidance for its third quarter ending October 2, 2010.
Nucor said that it expects third quarter results to be in the range of $0.05 to $0.10 per diluted share, compared to earnings of $0.29 per diluted share in the second quarter of 2010, $0.10 per diluted share in the first quarter of 2010 and a loss of $0.10 per diluted share in the third quarter of 2009.