U.S. Freight Carloads Weekly – July 4, 2011
U.S. railroads originated 284,562 carloads, down 0.1% compared with the same week in 2010 and down 4.5% compared with 5-year average. Week over week change was -3.3%.
Dry Bulk Weekly – July 4, 2011
Baltic dry index fell 0.1% last week; Capesize Index was up 3.6%; Panamax Index fell 9.9%; Supramax Index was down 1.2%; Handysize Index fell 1.2%.
Large increase in coal stockpiles, no major changes in other categories.
Daily Reading – Friday, July 1, 2011
*** The Big Picture: First, Blame the Lenders ***
*** The Big Picture: Not the Greeks, But Their Creditors Get Bailed Out ***
*** FT Alphaville: And so farewell, QE2 ***
*** FT Alphaville: Back inside the horrors of the Gaddafi fund ***
*** FT Alphaville: Does prejudice hinder economic growth? ***
*** Macro Man: YOU WHAT? ***
*** Calculated Risk: CoreLogic: May Home Price Index increased 0.8% ***
China Official PMI For June At 50.9
Official (China Federation of Logistics & Purchasing and National Bureau of Statistics) China PMI fell form 52.0 to 50.9. Consensus was at 51.5.
U.S. Petroleum Weekly – June 30, 2011
Demand is strengthening, crude oil stocks declined, distillates mostly unchanged. Supply/demand balance is tight.
Release of strategic reserve will have, in my view, relatively small effect on supply/demand balance, so the price weakness is probably short-term.
Daily Reading – Tuesday, June 28, 2011
*** The Big Picture: Analysts Exist to Make Economists Look Respectable ***
*** The Big Picture: Go Swedish, part 47 ***
*** FT Alphaville: Presenting … the French proposal in full ***
*** FT Alphaville: What’s wrong with markets in seven easy slides ***
*** FT Alphaville: Sino-Forest as Russian love story ***
*** Business Insider: In A New Poll Of Stock Forecasters, You Literally Can’t Find One Single Bear ***
*** Bronte Capital: Sino Forest: some ancient history ***
*** Bronte Capital: The Paulson Sino Forest loss ***
*** Common Dreams: What Happened to Media Coverage of Fukushima? ***
*** Star Simpson’s Blog: I Spent A Coin (And I Liked It) — How I Bought Lunch in Manhattan with Bitcoins ***
*** Cassandra Does Tokyo: Limey Beans ***
June Conference Board Consumer Confidence At 58.5
Conference Board consumer confidence came out at 58.5 vs. 61.0 consensus and 61.7 reading for May (revised from 60.8).
Weakening…
S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price 10 Index Unchanged In April
Seasonly adjusted S&P/Case-Shiller HPI 10 city was unchanged in April; On year level 10 city index is down 3.1%.
U.S. May Personal Income Rose 0.3%; U.S. Consumer Spending Remained Unchanged
U.S. personal income rose 0.3% in May vs. 0.4% consensus and revised (down 0.1%) 0.3% rise in April. On y-o-y level personal income is up 4.2%.
Dry Bulk Weekly – June 27, 2011
Baltic dry index rose 0.1% last week; Capesize Index was up 8.2%; Panamax Index fell 7.8%; Supramax Index was up 0.2%; Handysize Index fell 1.8%.
Iron ore inventory high, price moved lower; Both steel inventory and price moved lower; In coal both price and inventory moved up. Historically speaking coal inventory is low.
U.S. Freight Carloads Weekly – June 27, 2011
U.S. railroads originated 294,310 carloads, up 3.3% compared with the same week in 2010 and down 1.6% compared with 5-year average. Week over week change was 1.4%.
Almost no growth compared with 2010.
Tanker Weekly – June 26, 2011
Baltic Dirty Tanker Index rose 1.9%; Baltic Clean Tanker Index rose 7.6%.
Daily Reading – Friday, June 24, 2011
*** Calculated Risk: Q1 real GDP growth revised up to 1.9%, Durable-goods orders up 1.9% ***
*** The Big Picture: Durable Goods fine but Japan likely distorting data ***
*** The Big Picture: The IEA Does QE3? ***
*** The Big Picture: First Ben, then Jean-Claude, now Wen ***
*** The Big Picture: Marc Faber Likes Gold, Silver ***
*** FT Alphaville: The SPQR ***
*** FT Alphaville: Speculators, slapped ***
*** FT Alphaville: JPMorgan on the IEA’s stimulus ***
*** FT Alphaville: Goldman’s history lesson on oil releases ***
*** FT Alphaville: Risk. Off. ***
*** FT Alphaville: Cholesterol, eggs, oil and other inflation-fighting ingredients ***
*** FT Alphaville: Mamma mia! ***
*** FT Alphaville: Postcard from the Pyrenees ***
*** FT Alphaville: Stall speed ***
U.S. New Home Sales Rose 2.1% In May
U.S. new home sales fell 2.1% to 319.000 SAAR; Consensus was at 305.000 SAAR, prior reading (revised upward 3.000) was at 326.000 SAAR.