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Strategies & Market Trends : Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: mishedlo who wrote (88822)	10/20/2008 1:20:08 PM
From: Haim R. Branisteanu	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 116555

Baltic Dry is collapsing - hope that all know that

To: mishedlo who wrote (88822)	10/20/2008 2:00:55 PM
From: ajtj99	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 116555

Nice entry, Mish. It would be interesting to see how the value of goods coming in has changed. As you have illustrated, the greatest containerized export the US has is air (empty containers). After that we ship mostly things like scrap paper, scrap metal, hay (yes, containers of hay), and other low valued goods. From anecdotal information I believe a decent portion of the drop in import containers is due to the fall in home furnishings, including home furniture, patio furniture, ceiling fans, light fixtures, blinds, etc. These items are very bulky and don't take a lot of product to fill a container. The drop in home furnishing imports is a fallout of the housing and credit bust. Some other bulky items that may be down include bicycles, toys and games, and home decor. FWIW, TEU is commonly used in shipping language for describing volume and ship capacity, but so is FEU (Forty Foot Equivalent Units). The 40' container is considered the industry standard length now. Shipping companies hate handling 20' containers, and they now often charge 80% of the 40' rate for 20' containers. Domestic rail containers go 40', 48', and 53' long. Internationally the standards are 20', 40', and 45', with 45 high cube containers (9'6" tall) the largest commonly carried. Some shipping lanes are allowing the larger 48' and even 53' containers, but they are still very rare and not the norm.

To: mishedlo who wrote (88822)	10/20/2008 3:49:54 PM
From: ajtj99	1 Recommendation Respond to of 116555

It looks like Circuit City may file for Chapter 11 before the holiday season. That's pretty unusual for a retailer. Office Depot looks like it could go after the holiday season. Anyone with a Circuit City gift card had better use it up quick.

To: mishedlo who wrote (88822)	10/21/2008 3:12:08 AM
From: Proud Deplorable	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 116555

Linens 'N Things Canadian Operation Files for Bankruptcy as well. I import goods from China through one of LnT's suppliers but in recent weeks have reduced my inventories all the way down to within $3,000.00 in other words right down to the dust on the floor preferring to now ship whole pallets only by direct drop shipping. I sleep at night real well now. Business in almost all of Canada has dropped, with the exception of the Vancouver-Victoria area but in the next few weeks things will fall apart throughout the BC economy as well. Breaking News.....Owners of Whistler/Blackcomb are in financial trouble cbc.ca My Opinion......the 2010 Olympics will be canceled "Retailers to watch at Christmas include Walmart (WMT), Target (TGT), Sears (SHLD), and JC Penny (JCP) . Home Depot (HD) and Lowes (LOW) also have popular gifts for men. If the season shapes up as expected, sales and especially profits will be down at most of these stores as competition increases for fewer and fewer consumer discretionary spending dollars."