Carload traffic continued moderate weekly gains, with U.S. railroads originating 295,948 carloads for the week, up 7.1 percent compared with the same week in 2009, but down 11.3 percent from the same week in 2008.
Sixteen of the 19 carload commodity groups increased from the comparable week in 2009. Those posting the most significant increases were metallic ores, up 65.4 percent; metals and metal products, up 38.8 percent; and farm products excluding grain, up 37.6 percent. Two commodity groups, farm products excluding grain and metallic ores, also posted increases over 2008."
Other highlights for Week 32 include:
1. Cumulative year-to-date rail freight volume in Canada is up by 15.2% compared to last year.
2. Cumulative year-to-date rail activity is by 31.7% for major Mexican railroads.
3. Year-to-date rail freight volume for all major North America railroads is above last year's level by 14.5%.
Bottom Line: Warren Buffett's single most favorite economic indicator continued to show signs of improvement again in the most recent weekly report on rail traffic from the AAR. Based on the volume of raw materials, natural resources, lumber, coal grain, chemicals, metals, motor vehicles and paper products moving around the country by rail, the economic picture continues to get a little brighter almost every week.
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