Although it has struggled with its backlog of projects this year, a U.S.-based global construction firm that builds everything from automotive manufacturing facilities and energy plants to corporate headquarters and commercial airport facilities is starting to see some positive movement in the market here and abroad.

Steel demand in Las Vegas is forecast to be next to nonexistent as the slowdown in the area’s construction markets is expected to grind to a screeching halt and existing vacancies are on pace to take as many as five years to be absorbed in the waning economy.

Challenging residential, non-residential and infrastructure construction markets are playing havoc with the domestic wire rod market. And while federal stimulus efforts are on track to stiffen demand, rod producers do not expect a rebound in construction until 2011 although they see an improved business climate in 2010.

“Cap and Trade:” three little words that will instantly get the attention of everyone at a gathering of steel executives. When the cursing and yelling quiet down, tempers cool, fingers stop pointing and dire proclamations cease, the question remains: will environmental legislation be the end of the steel industry as we know it? Or, has the industry always been “ending” and re-inventing itself?

A stockpile of surplus structural steel that’s up for sale in the West is seen as a sign of the times in a market that continues to suffer from a slump in non-residential construction.

Spot transaction prices on rebar have come down an average of $50 per ton, or 10 percent, since mid-October, numerous market sources said, even though Gerdau Ameristeel Corp. and Nucor Corp. have both outlined their attempts to hold the line on published long products prices through December.

Producers of wide-flange steel beams are moving to keep prices steady in the face of a falling raw material index, lagging demand and offers on the street that continue to undercut official mill tags.

ATI Allegheny Ludlum, a subsidiary of Allegheny Technologies Inc., has decreased its electrical steel products surcharge for January.