Mailbag: "Bear Trader" Writes

You said - "The pundits are now talking about the disparity of the Transports and the Industrials. They are saying that the numbers for Xmas are already in and it will not be pretty." I hear from personal sources that Christmas season stuff from China is rapidly backing up in the supply chain. Retailers are resisting as product isn't moving. Looks like a bad Christmas season for the Dollar Store type shopper The Baltic Dry Index is bumping along the bottom and the Harpex ocean shipping container index is very poor (the German shipping firms run a great many container ships and are reported to be in financial trouble. The WSJ says Greek shippers are buying back for pennies on the dollar container ships they sold to the Germans in '06 and '07. That kills the middle income Christmas shopper. FedEx says air freight sucks. That takes care of the upper income people.