SEA - Ocean Shipping Rates Plunge: Just A Blip Or The End Of Globalization?
The Baltic Dry Index represents the cost of renting an ocean-going container ship to move goods from, say, Chinese factories to the Port of Los Angeles. The more stuff being made and sold, the higher the demand for such ships, and thus, the higher the price to rent one. And vice versa.
This is definitely one of the vice versa times. After rising to robust levels in mid-2018, the Baltic Dry Index has since plunged by about two-thirds.
Here's a brief article on the subject from Friday's Wall Street Journal: