Stuff "stuff", Bernard! Be specific!

Coal volumes hardly moved YOY, grain mill products down 5% and metals down 50%, all this assuming that other variables (such as loading efficiency, empty units etc) remain constant. What does it tell us? Not NEARLY as much as international airfreight figures.
About 30% of world trade by value (compared with around 5% - check me on that, but it's well below 10% by weight/volume) is air freighted.
Given that air freight is integral to Lean Manufacturing/JIT, it's by far the better indicator because change is rapid and significant.
I worked for a major European carrier for big chunks of my life and developed (back in the mid-1990s) a system to forecast changes in traffic volume by correlating historical load factors with historical exchange rate trends. Back then there was a 3 month eastbound/ 6 month westbound lag on the North Atlantic, but the reaction to exchange rates was uncannily accurate.
These days, it'll be on a hair trigger...

Wally : "Cos Warren Buffet knows that investors chase the latest " fad " industries . And thereby proven cashflow companies get neglected . Wisely chosen , cigarette manufacturers and infrastructure stocks , have paid massive dividends to patient holders . And this guy has patience galore ! Petrol companies , road maintenance , water treatment ........ all unglamorous sectors , but ' there's brass in muck ' , my lad !

Still tracking 1930 nicely.
http://newsfrom1930.blogspot.com/2009/08/wednesday-august-27-1930-dow-23...

Listen to that :
http://finance.yahoo.com/tech-ticker/article/312114/%22In-the-Tank-Forev...