Liam Denning, Columnist

U.S. Steel Trumps Its Own Trump Rally

It's asking investors to trust high prices are here to stay.

April 26, 2017 at 5:25 PM UTC

Liam Denning is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering energy. A former banker, he edited the Wall Street Journal’s Heard on the Street column and wrote the Financial Times’s Lex column.

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If you've ever wondered what the opposite of a "great-quarter-guys!" results call might sound like, the first question on United States Steel Corp.'s effort on Wednesday morning answered your prayers:

The tenor of the Q&A did not improve noticeably after that opener from David Gagliano at BMO Capital Markets. At least, the market saw it that way. U.S. Steel's stock had already dropped by 13 percent in overnight trading -- the results were released late Tuesday -- by the time the call began. When it ended, just as the market was opening, that loss had widened to 22 percent. As of this writing, the stock was down by about 25 percent.