IPFS News Link • Business/ Commerce
Decoupling Ridiculousness; US Rail Traffic Is Outright Recessionary
• MIKE SHEDLOCKRecessionary Decline in Rail Traffic
Bloomberg reports Rail Traffic Is Saying Something Worrying About the U.S. Economy.
It's not the jobs report or the latest housing data but railway cargo that has analysts at Bank of America concerned.
Railroad cargo in the U.S. dropped the most in six years in 2015, and things aren't looking good for the new year.
"We believe rail data may be signaling a warning for the broader economy," the recent note from Bank of America says. "Carloads have declined more than 5 percent in each of the past 11 weeks on a year-over-year basis. While one-off volume declines occur occasionally, they are generally followed by a recovery shortly thereafter. The current period of substantial and sustained weakness, including last week's -10.1 percent decline, has not occurred since 2009."