Source: /lowest-ever-the-baltic-dry-index-plunges-to-394-as-global-trade-grinds-to-a-standstill

 By Michael Snyder

The average person on the street might guess his cheap shoes were made in China, or that the oil in his car comes from the Middle East. But almost no one understands how these goods end up where they are.

Lloyds of London has agents in every port on the planet, keeping a daily record of the amount and cost of shipping raw material which can “give investors insight into global supply and demand trends. This change is often considered a leading indicator of future economic growth (if the index is rising) or contraction (index is falling) because the goods shipped are raw, pre-production material, which is typically an area with very low levels of speculation.

In her book Ninety Percent of ‘Everything, investigative journalist Rose George examine

s the global freight shipping complex—the all-but-hidden mess of an industry that undergirds the entire global economy yet somehow manages to avoid major scrutiny for its environmental and labor practices.

Read more: Baltic Dry Index (BDI) Definition | Investopedia http://www.investopedia.com/terms/b/baltic_dry_index.asp#ixzz3xU9YnGTO 
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