Baltic Dry Index Falls 93%

Are We Heading into a Global Recession or Possibly a Worldwide Depression?

The Baltic Dry Index which is a direct indicator of the health of vital worldwide shipping and supply activity as well as the potential health of the global economy has recently slipped more than 93%. Its value has gone from over 11,000 to less than 800 with little except for a floor of zero to suggest the slide will stop in the near future. This means that worldwide, the demand for cargo ships and more importantly raw materials that go into producing the everyday items that consumers buy has come to a near standstill. This is an indicator of a massive worldwide slump and likely foreshadows more economic woes for not only the US, but also the entire globe.

To understand the Baltic Dry index one has to approach this economic telltale from multiple angles. Basically, the index is set where the supply of raw materials meets the demand for ships to be booked to carry those materials from country to country or continent to continent. The index is broken down into different segments that take into account the size of the ship and the type of the cargo that is being shipped. It can be observed at the Investment Tools website at http://www.investmenttools.com/futures/bdi_baltic_dry_index.htm

Generally, when the BDI is charting a gain, stocks will likely close up and countries' whose currency are good market indicators of worldwide exchange, like the value of the Canadian and Australian Dollars are on their way up as well. When the BDI is performing badly, generally the US and worldwide stock markets are likely to also perform badly in the near future and the currencies of the countries previously mentioned, who are heavily affected by the foreign goods and raw materials exchange will also likely soon show losses. This is because the BDI shows exactly where the worldwide demand for raw goods and materials rests at any given period. When these raw goods and materials are not being moved around, production of almost everything imaginable slows due to the tightening supply of worldwide goods.