Transportation stocks are often looked to as indicators for the health of the US (and global) economy.  Companies like FedEx (FDX) and UPS (UPS) are viewed as market bellwethers given their integration into the global economy.  We look at what recent reports on rail volumes and the Baltic Dry Index tell us about the state of the economy.  Today’s screencast is a great real-time example of confirmation bias in action.

Posts mentioned in the above screencast:

Rail traffic continues to rebound.  Is it lagging the economy as a whole?  (Pragmatic Capitalism, Carpe Diem, ValuePlays, Floyd Norris)

Daily chart of the Union Pacific Corp. (UNP).  (Finviz)

The Baltic Dry Index is up 36% in two weeks.    (Bloomberg)

Remember when everyone was screaming about the $BDI? (StockTwits)

Transport stocks are lagging.  (MarketBeat)

Daily chart of the iShares Dow Jones Transportation Average (IYT).  (Finviz)

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