Shippers: not bad, but not good

Shipping rates have flattened out. But they are back to where they were 2 years ago. I would love to get bullish here because these stocks can make so much $$ for you, but the truth is that it does not look so great. It looks like this 'bubble' has burst and it is time to move on. I will however keep a close eye on the chart, just in case! If the rates can form a bottom here and move up, the future of the shippers should be much better. DRYS, EXM, GNK, TBSI.

Drybulk Shippers

Has the world economy (aka China) picked up? I am sure most people know that China stopped doing a lot of things due to the Olympics in order to keep pollution down. But the Olympics came and gone and still there seems to be no pickup in demand for coal, steal, grain, oil. I heard from someone about the Paralympics. "The 2008 Summer Paralympic Games, the thirteenth Paralympics, took place in Beijing, China from September 6 to September 17, 2008." So these just ended! Which means that if China wants to start burning coal again, it will start doing it very soon. We will be able to see this with a pickup in dry bulk shipping rates. They have been relativly stable the last 3 days (yah not very long). But if this index starts to pick up, look at the shipper stocks to gain momentum.

What I like about the shippers is that some are still near their 52 week lows, so if market picks up + rates pick up, this can be hugely beneficial for them. DRYS, DSX, EXM, GNK. There is no need to rush into these now except to day trade, but keep an eye on them. When they start to move up they can have 60-80% moves in a few months.