Global Economic News and Analysis
Written by Steven Hansen Could it be that rail is warning of an economic pivot point? Reflecting on the July 2012 rail data which we report on weekly – the trends within the data have changed. Is it just one month of data? A quote buried in the Association of American Railroads July report caught …
Continue reading “July 2012 Rail Movements: Economic Winds Changing?”
Written by Steven Hansen Not only has coal been screwing up analysis of rail data, this month we can add grain to the list. The transport portion of the economy is showing the real economy is expanding at least 3%. carloads down 1.3% year-over-year (compared to down 2.8% last month) excluding coal and grain (which …
Written by Steven Hansen Econintersect publishes Association of American Railroads (AAR) weekly traffic reports on Thursdays, and this post provides a monthly overview showing rail movements for May 2012 compared to May 2011. Coal is screwing up analysis of rail data, and this post explains why. The transport portion of the economy is showing the …
Continue reading “May 2012 Rail Movements: Data Shows the Economy Is Healthy”
Written by Steven Hansen Econintersect publishes Association of American Railroads (AAR) weekly traffic reports on Thursdays, and this post provides a monthly overview showing rail movements for April 2012 compared to April 2011. In general, rail traffic was “less bad” – and the bad caused almost entirely by coal’s biggest year-over-year percentage decline on record. …
Continue reading “April 2012 Rail Movements: Worst Coal Shipment Decline Ever”