Ghost fleet anchored just East of Singapore

[Clyrinc]

Re: Only 30.4% of NA freight car fleet in storage...

"As of September 1, 2009, freight cars in storage fell to 478,046, or 30.4% of the North American fleet."

"U.S. freight railroads originated 1,116,182 carloads in August 2009, down 16.4% (218,593​

carloads) from August 2008 and the 10th straight double-digit monthly carload decline."

From, " Rail Time Indicators, A Review of Key Economic Trends Shaping the Demand for Rail Transportation."​

http://www.aar.org/NewsAndEvents/~/...tors/Rail Time Indicators September 2009.ashx​

 

[alevin]

Our economy is 70% based on consumers who are cutting household expenses madly and longterm. How is the economy going to recover? How will the market sustain, much less continue to rise-hot air balloons? 40 trains a day used to roll through my town. Now? Not even.

At least as of now, the numbers above tell us to work under the "jobless recovery" scenario when anticipating both economic and financial market themes and outcomes ahead. I’ll leave you with one last tangential comment to ponder that is really fodder for another discussion. I’ve seen many a Street “seer” these days become convinced a “jobless recovery” does indeed lie ahead. But what seems striking is the complacency with which this conclusion is being drawn and used to support investment conclusions. As I see it, the “jobless recovery” post the 2001 recession had one key characteristic – an incredible expansion in household leverage. It was this almost maniacal leverage explosion that both compensated for lack of job growth and drove the economic recovery itself. So if we look ahead and assume a jobless outcome in current post recession experience, will households lever up again to compensate for lack of jobs and wage growth? Not a chance. Not this time. It’s just a good thing the government will do it for them, right? That is a good thing, isn’t it?

 

[alevin]

Forgot to reference the source of quote above. If anyone wants to read and look at charts, here it is.

http://www.financialsense.com/Market/daily/friday.htm

 

[Clyrinc]

Durable Goods Orders in U.S. Unexpectedly Decreased (Update2)
By Timothy R. Homan

"Sept. 25 (Bloomberg) -- Demand for U.S. durable goods unexpectedly fell in August, signaling companies are planning to curb spending on concern gains in sales will not be sustained.

Orders for goods meant to least several years dropped 2.4 percent, the worst performance since January, the Commerce Department said today in Washington. Excluding transportation equipment, orders were little changed. ...

Bookings for non-defense capital goods excluding aircraft, a proxy for future business investment, dropped 0.4 percent after a 1.3 percent decrease the prior month that was more than four times as large of previously estimated.

Shipments of these items, a measure used in calculating gross domestic product, dropped 1.9 percent, the worst performance since April.

Companies cut inventories of durable goods by 1.3 percent, according to today’s report, and total shipments dropped 1.4 percent, the most since May."

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601068&sid=aL4tvXK0GHCU