2015-08-23

Mood Turns Negative in Europe as Freight Rates Tumble

Is social mood beginning a new leg to the downside? It may seem there is no link between tumbling freight rates and riots, especially when there is no sign of a major slowdown in the real economy, but socionomic theory says both are the product of negative social mood.

AP: RIOTERS ATTACK POLICE IN FRONT OF GERMAN ASYLUM HOME AGAIN
Right-wing rioters have attacked police in front of an asylum shelter near Dresden for the second night in a row with firecrackers, stones and bottles.

German news agency dpa reported Sunday that two police officers were injured while protecting a new asylum center in Heidenau in eastern Germany. About 600 asylum seekers are to move into the former warehouse on the outskirts of Heidenau. Some 120 people moved in Saturday amid strong police protection. On Friday night, 31 police were injured when rioters blocked the road to the asylum home.

German lawmakers have condemned the increasing violence toward refugees. So far, Germany has been largely welcoming to the tens of thousands of refugees arriving each month but the attacks on them and on refugee shelters have been on the rise.
Those German politicians won't be around for very much longer because, as in many countries, they represent themselves instead of their constituents. Plus, implementing a peak social mood policy in the middle of a negative mood swing is a sure path to political failure.

ZH: Global Trade In Freefall: Container Freight Rates From Asia To Europe Crash 60% In Three Weeks
As expected, on Friday, we got confirmation that the BDIY has indeed become a lagging indicator to actual demand, when Reuters reported in its latest weekly update using data from the Shanghai Containerized Freight Index, that key shipping freight rates for transporting containers from ports in Asia to Northern Europe fell by 26.7 percent to $469 per 20-foot container (TEU) in the week ended on Friday.

The collapse in rates is nothing short of a bloodbath: "it was the third consecutive week of falling freight rates on the world’s busiest route and rates are now nearly 60 percent lower than three weeks ago.

Freight rates on the world’s busiest shipping route have tanked this year due to overcapacity in available vessels and sluggish demand in goods to be transported. Rates generally deemed profitable for shipping companies on the route are at about $800-$1,000 per TEU.

Other Europe-focused freight rates did even worse, with container freight rates from Asia to ports in the Mediterranean plunging 32.1%, while those to the US West and East coast slid by 7.9% and 9.9%, respectively.

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