The latest data from the AAR continues to show a near-term rebound in rail traffic trends, however, the bigger picture is showing a more mixed recovery. For the week ending January 30th total carloads jumped 7% year over year, but declined 12.7% compared to 2008. Intermodal traffic was also mixed with a 7.5% jump from 2009, but down 9.7% from 2008. Breadth was again positive this week as 13 of the 19 commodity groups showed gains. All in all, this data continues to reflect the weak recovery, but is showing certain signs of a recovery from the low trough of 2009.
Source: AAR
Mr. Roche is the Founder and Chief Investment Officer of Discipline Funds.Discipline Funds is a low fee financial advisory firm with a focus on helping people be more disciplined with their finances.
He is also the author of Pragmatic Capitalism: What Every Investor Needs to Understand About Money and Finance, Understanding the Modern Monetary System and Understanding Modern Portfolio Construction.