This piggybacks on yesterday’s post on employment and the $SPY. A few weeks ago we saw rail traffic begin to post impressive YOY gains. At the time I said we could not get too excited over a single week and had to wait for several more weeks to come in so we could confirm either this was a trend or simply a short term aberration. Well, a month later and continued (and growing) outperformance I think gives us the ability to say this is a trend, a very positive one.. Last week total N. American rail traffic was up 50k YOY:
The gains did NOT come from oil as rail traffic by rail was flat YOY:
The gains came from intermodal which had a ~10% increase and metals and stone products (think commercial construction). Large increases in these areas bode very, very, well for the overall economy and especially continued job growth.
These are strong numbers, real strong