Rail traffic remains strong according to this week’s data from the AAR. This is just one more along the long string of strong economic data points in recent months (via AAR):
“The Association of American Railroads (AAR) today reported that weekly rail traffic was up over 2010 levels for the week ending Jan. 29, 2011, with U.S. railroads originating 291,147 carloads, up 4.7 percent compared with the same week last year. Intermodal volume for the week totaled 222,742 trailers and containers, up 9.2 percent compared with the same week in 2010, with container volume up 10.1 percent and trailer volume up 4.4 percent.Fourteen of the 20 carload commodity groups saw increases from the comparable week in 2010. Commodities that posted significant carload gains included: farm products excluding grain, up 37.2 percent; metallic ores, up 17.7 percent; metals and products, up 13.5 percent; petroleum products, up 12.7 percent; and pulp, paper and allied products, up 11.4 percent. Commodity groups reporting notable declines were waste and nonferrous scrap, down 11.6 percent, and nonmetallic minerals, down 10.4 percent.
Weekly carload volume on Eastern railroads was up 2.4 percent compared with last year. In the West, weekly carload volume was up 6.2 percent compared with the same week in 2010.
For the first four weeks of 2011, U.S. railroads reported cumulative volume of 1,142,293 carloads, up 8 percent from last year, and 863,099 trailers and containers, up 7.4 percent from the same point in 2010.”
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.
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