Thursday, November 18, 2010

Weekly Rail Traffic Continues Steady Gains vs. 2009

The volume of weekly rail traffic continues to register improvements over last year, and the gains in Week 45 (November 8- 13) announced today by the American Association of Railroads were 5.8% for carloads (297,269), and 11.9% for trailers and containers (232,888 intermodal units) compared to the same week of 2009.  

Steady weekly improvements in Warren Buffet's single-most favorite indicator ("rail traffic") indicate that there are ongoing increases in the demand for raw materials, commodities, parts, grains, lumber and other inputs, which will translate into future increases in final output.  In other words, the increases in raw materials moving around the country by rail can only mean one thing: overall economic activity is picking up.   

5 Comments:

At 11/18/2010 5:05 PM, Blogger juandos said...

From the link: 'Sixteen of the 19 carload commodity groups increased from the comparable week in 2009, with significant gains in metallic ores, up 164.7 percent; coke, up 30.1 percent; and metals and products, up 23.9 percent'...

This indicates new factory orders, or at least potentially, right?

 
At 11/18/2010 5:19 PM, Blogger juandos said...

Well maybe railroad stock, stock in coal mining and ancillary equipment, and stock in domestic coal companies might be a good thing now...

From the WSJ: State-run media reported that Beijing is considering capping domestic coal output in the 2011-2015 period, partly because officials worry miners are running down reserves too quickly to meet the needs of a rapidly expanding economy...

 
At 11/19/2010 3:18 AM, Blogger Ron H. said...

"...and stock in domestic coal companies might be a good thing now..."

Hmmm. Probably not a bad idea. Even if we shoot ourselves in the foot by limiting our own use of coal, it could always be sold to people with better sense.

 
At 11/19/2010 6:16 AM, Blogger juandos said...

"Even if we shoot ourselves in the foot by limiting our own use of coal, it could always be sold to people with better sense"...

Exactly Ron H! Exactly!

Consider the Energy Information Administration's projection for coal use in Asia...

There's lots of money to be made from those potential customers...

 
At 11/20/2010 12:01 PM, Blogger juandos said...

"...people with better sense"...

Well Ron H if Grist is factual in this posting China and India are buying up domestic coal mines and not waiting around to 'shoot themselves in the foot'...

 

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