The Baltic Dry Index and an old wheel
The black line is the Baltic Dry Index, which tracks the prices of shipping bulk goods globally. See Wikipedia for a detailed explanation, plus a comment on the 2008 situation. The other squiggles are a variety of stock market indices.
This is some measure of the state of global trade. The index is thought by some to be close to where you cannot any longer afford to run ships, so it will most likely not go down much more. Shipping firms are running out of credit.
This means, I think, that the quantity of raw materials going to factories is way down and so is the quantity of goods leaving them.
Here in Brisbane, the world's premier backwater, scrap metal firms are presently not buying scrap, at all. This is the first time my mate Al and I have seen this, in 40 years n his case. They were buying everything they could lay their hands on, about two months back. They took a rusty wheel rim off Al, with the rubber casing still on it. Much to his amusement. So, maybe they have unsaleable stock on their hands. Still, it is odd.
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