“The [freight] slowdown within the United States is part of a broader global downturn in freight which has spread across Europe and Asia.
“At Hong Kong’s International Airport, the busiest air cargo hub in the world, reported volumes shrank by 8% in the second quarter compared with 2018.
“London Heathrow’s cargo was down by 6% in the second quarter, the worst performance since the recession in 2009.
“California’s Port of Long Beach, one of the major entry points for trans-Pacific cargo, reported container volumes down almost 11% year-on-year in April-June…
“More recent data for individual ports and airports suggests growth will slow further and turn negative in May and June…
“The slowdown in global trade and manufacturing is weighing on oil consumption growth, especially for middle distillates such as diesel.
“In a sign of how concerned investors are about the outlook, trade and manufacturing proxies remain under pressure even though markets are now factoring in a very high probability the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates.
“The slackening global economy is now rebounding on the United States through a combination of weak export growth, heightened competition from cheap imports, and a strong dollar…”
https://www.hellenicshippingnews.com/freight-volumes-shrink-as-world-economy-stalls/
China’s economic situation is very hard to get a handle on but I think we can safely say that their real GDP is well below 6.2%.
“China released second-quarter figures on Monday showing that its economy slowed to 6.2% — the weakest rate in at least 27 years, as the country’s trade war with the U.S. took its toll…
“The second quarter economic growth was the country’s slowest pace since the first quarter of 1992 — the earliest quarterly data on record, according to Reuters.”
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/07/15/china-economy-beijing-posts-q2-gdp-amid-trade-war-with-us.html
“Shanghai-listed Fushun Special Steel, a “penny stock” company controlled by Dongbei Special Steel, was found to have fabricated its financial numbers on multiple fronts including its inventory, earnings and fixed-asset investments between 2010 and the first three quarters of 2017.”
“With pig stocks still tumbling from an outbreak of African swine fever, pork inflation has risen to a three-year high in China and could soon accelerate to the fastest pace in a decade…
“…driving the country’s consumer price index above the central bank’s target rate in the process.”
https://www.ft.com/content/1d561e32-a3b2-11e9-a282-2df48f366f7d
“Hot-rolled steel coil, used in cars and industrial machinery, now hovers at $550 per ton for East Asia-bound shipments, down 10% over a year.
“The price declined sharply last fall as the trade war intensified. ABS plastic, used in exteriors for consumer electronics, has fared even worse, dropping nearly 30% from a year earlier.”
“Japanese-style interest rate caps are drawing interest from global central bankers worried about a downturn, including U.S. Federal Reserve officials grappling with how to bolster their options as prospects for the global economy darken.”
“Consumer staples and automobiles — the two sectors [of the Indian economy] worst hit by the slowdown — are unlikely to do well in the first quarter of the current fiscal. Analysts expect a muted performance from both these industries.”
https://www.telegraphindia.com/business/slowdown-cloud-darkens/cid/1694494
“Dewan Housing Finance Ltd. plunged after the Indian shadow lender posted a quarterly loss and flagged doubt about its ability to continue as a going concern amid a funding crunch in the country’s credit market… The embattled lender seen its market value erode 75% this year…”
“…a new report that describes the central Asian hermit state [of Turkmenistan] as “a country teetering on the edge of catastrophe”. Turkmenistan, second only to North Korea in the scale of its isolation and leadership cult, has long been courted by western governments eager to tap into its gas reserves and associated wealth. The country is thought to possess about 10% of the proven global reserves of natural gas, but is currently in the midst of an economic crisis.
““Hunger and hyperinflation are being managed by further increasing the scale of human rights abuse and the level of intrusion into people’s lives,” says the report by the British thinktank the Foreign Policy Centre, which will be launched in parliament on Monday evening.”
“Manufacturing in the 19-nation [Eurozone] currency bloc has been on a downward trajectory since the start of last year. The sector hasn’t contracted this long and deeply without a recession since at least the 1960s, according to an ING analysis of European Central Bank data. ING cites weakening global demand and trade uncertainty as significant causes of the slide, but noted a critical bright spot.”
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/euro-zone-factory-jobs-might-050010465.html
“Britain is facing the highest risk of a recession since the financial crisis and needs urgent plans to combat the next downturn, according to an alarming assessment of the nation’s economic health.
“Preparations need to be made to reduce the impact, the study by the Resolution Foundation thinktank warns. It states that both uncertainty around Brexit and the global economic slowdown have led to the highest recession risk since 2007.”
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/jul/13/urgent-planning-needed-to-combat-looming-downturn
“Central bankers readying to fight another economic downturn are tossing hand grenades rather than firing bazookas.
“Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell and European Central Bank President Mario Draghi stand ready alongside many of their counterparts to cut interest rates to bolster the weakest growth in a decade and lackluster inflation.
“Yet they have little to work with and, perhaps more worryingly, what they do have lacks potency.”
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