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’Freight rates go negative
Negative bond yields, negative repo rates, and now… negative freight rates. At least route-specific ones.
Bloomberg has the story here (our emphasis):
Glencore International Plc (GLEN) hired a commodity ship with the operator of the vessel earning nothing and contributing to some of the fuel costs after freight rates for hauling raw materials had their worst-ever start to a year.
Explaining the Baltic Dry sell-off
FT Alphaville, and others, watched the Baltic Dry’s recent 60 per cent tumble, which took place over a run of 35 consecutive days, with particular interest.
Some, after all, suggested that it meant the index was no longer a valid economic indicator.
27 days later
The Baltic Dry Index, which measures the cost of shipping dry bulk goods, headed into its 27th day of losses on Monday.
This takes it into its longest continuous slump for five years, according to Bloomberg.
What’s up with commodity currencies?
Having warned about increasingly negative sentiment towards the euro, Bank of New York Mellon’s Simon Derrick takes a stab at commodity currencies on Wednesday.
In a nutshell, they are behaving oddly.
Of square roots and economic indicators
Remember when George Soros warned of an inverted square-root recovery?
Something that might look a little bit like this in fact:
Well, we couldn’t help noticing Danske Bank’s chart showing off the Baltic Dry Index as a potential leading indicator on Friday:
Bears, keep the faith
It is not much fun being a bear at the moment with seemingly everything going up – except the US dollar. But there is still hope, according to Soc Gen’s Albert Edwards.
In his latest Strategy Weekly he draws our attention to the recent performance of the Baltic Freight index,
Tanked
Most people will have heard about the dramatic collapse in dry bulk shipping rates that occurred in October/November following the paralysis that hit global trade in the weeks after the Lehman Brothers collapse.
The Baltic dry index marches on (for now)
The Baltic Dry Index, which tracks ships rates for vessels transporting dry commodities, continues to mount an impressive comeback after its massive crash in October 2008. On Friday the index rose 2.68 per cent to 2,225 points, its highest rate this year.
How not to (mis)read the Baltic Dry
It’s hard to remember while watching the plummeting Baltic Dry Index of ship charter rates how recently people were convinced it would stay high for months. The index, which hit an all-time record 11,793 points on May 20,
A juddering halt to world trade
The Baltic Dry Index is a leading economic indicator for global growth.
It measures world shipping rates (NB 90 per cent of the world’s trade by volume is by ship). As BBC business editor Robert Peston noted in his blog yesterday,
Baltic Dry index slides
The Baltic Dry index, which measures dry bulk shipping costs, plunged by nearly a quarter last week – 10% on Friday alone – as rates plummeted for the biggest ocean carriers of raw materials. Shipping groups’ shares,
What happened to the Baltic Dry’s 15 minutes of fame?
From Robert Wright, the FT’s transport correspondent:
Before Thursday’s SocGen revelations, analysts had found a new favourite indicator to justify falls in equity prices. It could be, of course, that the many analysts who have talked up in the last fortnight the significance of the plunge in the Baltic Dry Index – it’s down 40 per cent from its record peak in November – are long-term,
A shot across the bow?
Is there a sign that the shipping news is about to get gloomy?
The Baltic Dry index, as we’ve previously noted, has had a stellar year, surging over 10,000, on the back of an infrastructure squeeze in the sector.