The recent renewed interest in foreign flat-rolled steel has largely come to an end as falling domestic scrap tags and tentative labor deals at U.S. Steel Corp. and ArcelorMittal USA Inc. put downward pressure on U.S. prices, market sources said. "It would've been nice to have a short-term pop" one trader said of earlier expectations of a strike or lockout and a subsequent price spike. Market players had speculated that a potential disruption at one of the major steelmakers would have taken capacity offline and helped strengthen U.S. prices for flat products, thereby encouraging lower-priced imports. Some traders had already reported a pickup in inquiries in August, when the threat of a labor disruption at either company was still a possibility.
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