The Baltic Dry Index (BDI) has fallen 28% from its recent high on May 26th, indicating to some weakness in the global economy. The BDI tracks the prices of bulk carriers which are the life-blood of global trade carrying everything from iron ore to grain. While the 28% decline may seem ominous, the BDI is […]
Archive:
Shipping Sector
Trade, the life blood of the global economy, has begun rebounding nicely since the trough of the global economic crisis. But, January’s US trade data unexpectedly displayed a decline in both exports–the first decline in nine months–and imports, leading to a smaller US trade deficit, but also implying a potential slowdown in global trade. As […]
From Cantor Report: “ Cantor/DRYS: We Upgrade DRYS To BUY (From HOLD) On Valuation, Rig Exposure * We raise our price target to $8 (from $7) based on our 7.0x EV/EBITDA multiple to our new 2010 EBITDA forecast of $558 million (from $544 million). Given the discrepancy between our target and the current stock price, […]
Cantor Fitzgerald raised the price target for Diana Shipping (DSX) to $18 from $16 based on higher rechartering assumptions. Cantors presently holds a ‘Buy’ rating on DSX. DSX is one of the few shippers within the dry bulk space on which I hold a relatively constructive view. Compared to other shippers the company has a […]
Tomorrow I will be publishing an interesting piece on TheStreet.com’s Real Money section titled “Coal in your stocking: hypocrisy, senility, or common sense?” The piece discusses Mr. Buffett’s recent acquisition of BNSF, and highlights his indirect bet on coal. The piece also highlights some trading ideas in the coal and railroad sectors that you may […]
Carrying over from a theme I mentioned earlier this week in my column on thestreet.com, I began contemplating what frequent transportation index, if any, would be a good complement the BDI as a forward looking indicator toward the global economy. My goal was to find something that could perhaps help factor out the impact of […]
I have received several inquiries regarding the recent divergence between the BDI and my dry bulk shipping index (DBSI), and thought I should touch on the subject. First and foremost I believe that a large portion of the divergence can be explained as a US dollar story. Also, recent weakness has been mostly isolated to […]
A potential record US harvest could help buoy rates for small to mid-size ship rates. What was a relatively mild and wet spring and summer has created conditions for what is setting up to be one of the nation’s biggest harvests. The U.S. Department of Agriculture is projecting a total corn crop of 12.954bn bushels, […]
Lloyds List, a leading maritime and transport news terminal, reported the results of the first major shipping industry sentiment survey since the beginning of the economic downturn that was conducted by Norton Rose. The survey “has painted a bleak picture of the sector with the vast majority of companies predicting that economic conditions will get […]
In retrospect, the widespread panic that engulfed the world’s financial markets after the fall of Lehman Brothers may have been somewhat overblown considering the actual long-term impact of the event, which was significantly mitigated through innovative monetary policy. But at the time, this did not prevent an almost immediate shut-down of credit markets around the […]