Introduction - short term forecasts

In a time of increased uncertainty critical insight into price forecasts provides the ability to make better informed decisions. Fastmarkets have been providing research analytics for over 30 years and our forecasts are built on a robust methodology which will enable you to plan purchasing or manage inventories; guiding your next decision or negotiation whether you are buying, trading or hedging. 

Fastmarkets Short-term Forecast content in the Dashboard includes: 

• Short-term Forecast Market Pages – these pre-configured workspaces are a great starting point to discover the forecast prices, commentary and analysis for your subscription. 
• Forecast prices in a Price Chart widget – these can be added to your current workspace allowing you to view forecast prices alongside past history in your existing Dashboard charts 
• Forecast commentary and research analysis articles – these can be accessed from the Price Chart widget or News List widgets - understand why prices are at current or past levels as well as a view of how they will develop over the coming months. 
• Access Short-term Forecast Tracker publications in pdf format in the Dashboard Reports Library 

Access to short term forecast content

Access to Short-term Forecast content is available as an add on to your existing Fastmarkets data license(s). If as a subscriber to our forecast content, the below functionality options do not appear in your chart please contact our Client Services team to check your level of access - Let’s get you some help. 

Forecast methodology

Fastmarkets forecasts prices and commentary are published monthly for the current and following year for example e.g. in January 2024 – prices are forecasted to the end of 2025. Corresponding analysis will update throughout the month as markets move. 

You can find more information about the methodology and modelling for Fastmarkets Forecasts here.

Short-term forecast market pages

Short-term Forecast Market Pages are pre-populated workspaces created by our analyst teams to be used as starting point to start exploring Fastmarkets forecast prices and analysis and can be used as the basis to create your own customized workspaces. You can access them by clicking on the All Markets left-hand menu then Short-term forecasts in the navigation pane, as shown below.

These Market Pages align with your Short-term forecasts subscription enabling you find the content you need faster.  

Once you have selected and opened the Market Page you wish to view you can add it to your existing workspaces by clicking the “Add to Workspaces” button in the top-right corner of the Dashboard to save it.

It will then appear in the left-hand navigation menu with a “Copy 1” extension. You can then edit the name by clicking on the name at the top of the page. Widgets within a market page can be re-positioned, edited or resized once you save the market page to your workspace. 

It is also possible to copy a widget from a market page to your own workspace. Click on the Edit Widget menu (three dots) in the top right corner, select Copy widget to and either select an existing workspace or create a new workspace (see section below).

Plot the forecast in the price chart widget

Price forecasts can be plotted alongside Fastmarkets published assessments historical prices in a Price Chart widget so you can understand the historic price trend and view the forecasted price direction together in one chart. 

Search and add price history and forecasts to a Price Chart widget

Forecasts are available by searching for the "parent" or underlying physical price symbol, there is no need to search separately. To understand which prices have available forecasts please refer to short term forecast methodology documents here or review Fastmarkets price packages in the Our Metals Prices section of the Dashboard support page here. 

To add price history and forecasts to your Price Chart widget click on Add Widget and select Price Chart widget. In this example we will search for Steel reinforcing bar (rebar) domestic, delivered Northern Europe, €/tonne. Begin by type "Steel rebar" and select the filter Product:Steel rebar and then narrow your results down by entering "Northern Europe" and 
selecting the location filter Location: Northern Europe as per below, click + Add to add the symbol MB-STE-0036 then click Next:

Please note there is no specific search filter for forecast price, ensure you search for the "parent" price.

Select the workspace you wish to add the widget to and click Confirm or continue to search and add up to eight prices to your chart.

You will notice additional menus for Forecasts and Commentary at the top menu of the Price Chart widget.

By default the forecast is displayed to the right of the historical price in the lighter grey shaded area, denoted as a dashed line. , you can easily add the related forecast by toggling on above chart. By default it loads the full forecast series.  

Each dashed line in the chart displays a monthly price forecast data point.

View forecast commentary from a price chart widget

Fastmarkets forecasts also provide a commentary or outlook which updates alongside the price forecast providing a summary explanation of current factors impacting a price or group of prices forecasted. 

To navigate from the Price Chart widget to the forecast commentary click on the Commentary menu at the top of the chart and select the symbol you wish to read a commentary for. If you have multiple symbols in the chart those which have a forecast price will have a corresponding commentary available.

Discover Fastmarkets market analysis

Fastmarkets market analysis provides in depth detail about how the previous month's forecasts performed, what changed and why as well as intelligence and analysis from the latest industry events. This in depth market analysis can be found by navigating from the Price Chart widget or through the News List widget. 

Access market analysis from the Price Chart widget

To access market analysis from the Price Chart widget, select the Commentary menu and navigate via your chosen symbol to the summary commentary. From here, click on the purple Full article button above the article:

Monthly market analysis provides an in depth outlook for a price or group of prices which may include graphics and data tables.

If you are using the web version of the Dashboard it will open in a new browser tab

Access the Short-term Forecast Tracker (pdf) from the Price Chart widget

Fastmarkets full market analysis is available in pdf format in the Dashboard Reports Library. You can easily navigate from the Price Chart widget by clicking on the View latest report button in the Outlook Commentary or Analysis articles as is show below:

This will direct you to the Dashboard Reports Library where you can find all Tracker publications within your subscription: 

Further information on functionality within the Dashboard Reports Library can be found later in this document. 

Add market analysis to the News List widget

	Alternatively you can search and add forecast commentary and analysis to the News List widget. Click Add Widget and select News List. In the search bar select Source: Fastmarkets Analytics
This will return a list of all forecast monthly market analysis and commentary that is available to your based on your access. Click Next, select the workspace you wish to add the widget to and Confirm. You can give the widget a title by clicking and typing into the top left corner.

Click and drag to make the News List widget wider to display the article reading pane:

Access short-term forecast tracker document in the dashboard reports library

The Dashboard Reports Library is where you will find the Short-term Forecast Tracker documents in pdf and supporting data in Microsoft Excel format which are included in your subscription.  

Click on the Newsletters & reports link in the left-side navigation menu. If you subscribe to Fastmarkets news by default the Newsletters tab will be displayed. Click on Forecasts and Short -term to display the forecast content you have subscribed to.

The Reports Library publication page displays:  

• the name and date of the publication 
• the number of available documents
   

• Information about the publication – hover your mouse over the information icon (highlighted below) 
• Bell icon to enable you to manage your alert preferences (purple denotes you are receiving email alerts for new issues) 
• View archive documents link to take you to the latest and archive of the last years publications

If you subscribe to more than one Short-term forecast product it is possible to sort the order of publications. Click on Sort by and select one of the options:

You can return to forecast prices and analysis articles in the Market Pages by clicking on the View Forecast Charts button in the top right corner:

Click on a Tracker publication to expand and view the documents in the latest issue. Click the purple download buttons to download each document.

Access the one year document archive for Short-term Forecast Trackers

Click on the View archive link for your selected Short-term Forecast Tracker to navigate to the documents page where you can find the latest issue as well as those from the last year. Click on the Previous Issues button to open and select the issue you would like to download.

Select the date of the issue you wish to view. This will then display the documents available to download.

Short-term Forecast Tracker email alerts

By default you will be already subscribed to receive email alerts when each new issue is published. This is denoted by the purple bell icon against each issue within your subscription on the publication page and the documents page (see below).

Should you wish to no longer receive these alerts, click on the purple bell icon. You will see this message requiring confirmation you wish to unsubscribe:
	The bell icon will then be colored grey to denote you are unsubscribed. Click on the icon again if you wish to receive them again, it will return to the purple color.

When the latest issue is available you will now receive an email alert from Fastmarkets Alert Service - alerts@notify.fastmarkets.com with a link to download the issue from the Fastmarkets Dashboard.  

Please ensure you add this address to your safe senders list in your email application to make sure you do not miss out on the next issue. 

Click the Download latest report button to login to the Dashboard Reports Library to access the latest documents. Click the View forecast charts and commentary button to select a Market Page to view price forecast charts and analysis articles.

Edit forecast prices in the chart

Hide and display forecast prices on the chart

By default forecast prices will be displayed when you add them to your Price Chart widget. You can select to hide or display forecast prices in the chart by selecting the slide toggle in the Forecast menu above the chart.

Edit displayed price fields

It is possible to display the midpoint, high, low or both high and low of the historical price range via the Settings panel. Please note that the forecast prices in your chart are always based on the mid price.

Edit date ranges in the chart

Edit the forecast horizon of the chart

Depending on how far you need to view forecast projects you can amend the horizon from the Forecasts menu above the chart. Select from preset ranges of one month (1M), three months (3M), six months (6M), one year (1Y) or two years (2Y).

Edit the historical price date range of the chart

By default when adding the Price Chart widget, one year of historical pricing is displayed alongside the full forecast date range, but the date range can be customized in three ways:

1. Select from the pre-configured time-periods in the bottom right of the chart, to adjust the historical pricing. For example, click 6M to shorten the assessment price history to the last six months alongside the full forecast prices.
    

1. Customize the time period by using the calendar. To select the start date:
   1. Click into the dates in purple to open the calendar, then use the double arrows to move back in yearly increments or the single arrow to move back in monthly increments. When you have reached the selected month/year click on the start date
   2. Repeat step a) to select your end date/month/year (note, if your end date precedes the first forecast date only historical assessment prices will display).
       

1. View prices for a specific date by hovering your cursor over the lines in the chart. A heads-up display showing the date and prices will appear with a vertical line as the cursor moves over the price lines. Forecast prices are denoted with an "(f)" next to them as per this example:
    

Chart Average prices

You may wish to amend the historical chart to the same frequency as forecasts by plotting monthly averages alongside monthly forecast data.  

To chart averages for physical prices, click on the drop down against the name in the legend and choose an option.

 View historic prices in a data table from the price chart widget

You can view historical prices in a data table without navigating to a different widget or workspace. Click on the Line Chart link above the legend to change the view and select Data Table.

Forecast prices appear at the top of the table if you have selected to display them in the chart. They are distinguished from assessed prices with an "(f)" in brackets after the date. Use the Settings panel to amend the price fields to display the Low, Mid or High. You can amend the date range using the preset time periods or the calendar above the table.   To return to the chart display, click Data Table in the top-left corner of the widget, then click Line Chart.

Convert the currency and/or unit of measure of forecast prices

The Dashboard enables you to convert the base currency and/or unit of measure for historic and forecast prices so you can compare them on an apples-to-apples basis. Currency and unit conversion are available in the Price Chart widgets. 

The Dashboard uses foreign exchange rates provided by a range of suppliers for current and historical currency conversion. Daily rates on current pricing are provided by Morningstar and update intraday on an hourly basis until 23:00 UTC. 

Historical prices are converted using the conversion rate for the day the price was originally assessed, which is provided by different foreign exchange rate providers. 

Information on how the Dashboard converts the currency can be found by hovering the mouse over the information icon to the right of the menu.

Access the conversion menu

	Conversions can be accessed via the widget actions menu, as shown at left. If using widgets where multiple prices are displayed, the Dashboard will convert all prices to the selected currency and/or unit. Please note that the target currency or unit-of-measure dropdown menus will appear “grayed out” if no conversion is available for any prices in the widget.
Convert currency and unit of measure in the Price Chart widget To convert the currency and/or unit of measure of prices in a widget, click on the Widget actions menu (three dots), select Convert currency/unit and either select the currency and/or unit of measure you want from the dropdown menus then click Convert.
	Price history and forecasts will be converted with the currency and/or unit of measure converted to in purple above the chart.

Export forecast prices and images from the price chart widget

Data or images may be printed, exported and copied for use in spreadsheets, reports and presentations (as aligned with the terms and conditions of your Fastmarkets data license agreement).  
You can copy or export selected prices from Price Chart widget in the following formats: 

• Copy values only (static data) 
• Export – Comma-separated values (.csv; file saved to Downloads folder) 
• Export – Microsoft Excel (.xlsx) 
• PNG image (.png) 
• PDF document (pdf) 

Click the export icon in the top right corner of the widget:

Export prices to Excel

Historic and forecast prices can be copied to Excel selecting the Copy values only option from the Export menu as above to enable you to work with the data in your spreadsheets. This example shows the results pasted into any instance of Microsoft Excel. Forecast prices are denoted with an "(f)" next to the date, actual assessment or average historical prices show their published date.

Please note that this is a copy of static data – it not yet possible to work with the Excel Add-in functions to refresh once a new assessment or forecast is published.

Export, print or share forecast analysis from a news list widget

Forecast commentaries and market analysis can be exported and shared with other Dashboard users for use outside of the Dashboard. Click Launch Article and then select the Print Article link to export into pdf format and print. The article will have a white background and show the name of the user who exported it, with the date and timestamp.

Share commentary and market analysis articles

Forecast commentary and market analysis  articles can also be shared with other Dashboard users. The Share link button is at the top right. When you click the link, a temporary message displays telling you that the link has copied to the clipboard. The link can be sent to another Dashboard user via email or a messaging service.  When you share a link with another Dashboard user, they receive a notification to open the link in either the web version or the Installed version of Dashboard.

FURTHER HELP