Stocks slid into the close yesterday, but they’re firming up a bit this morning. Gold is climbing again, nearing the $2,200-an-ounce level, while crude oil is going for around $82 a barrel, close to a five-month high. The dollar and Treasuries are mostly flat.
Early this morning, a Singapore-flagged cargo vessel called the Dali struck a pillar of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore. That caused the majority of the 1.6-mile-long span to collapse, sending cars, people, and cargo containers plunging into the Patapsco River. Rescuers are working in the vicinity of the bridge to recover vehicles and find potential survivors.
Besides the human tragedy and likely loss of life, the disaster will have significant economic impacts. The Port of Baltimore is the US’s 20th largest, and the biggest handler of cargo like automobiles, light trucks, and other wheeled vehicles used in construction and farming. Roughly 800,000 vehicles moved through the port last year, with about 21,000 20-foot cargo containers processed there each week.
This week is chock full of economic data, with this morning’s durable goods report showing orders up 1.4% in February. That beat estimates slightly, as did ex-transportation and ex-defense orders. The Federal Reserve won’t meet again until April 30-May 1, and rate futures markets aren’t pricing in a significant chance of an initial cut until the June 11-12 meeting that follows it. But reports between now and then could change things.
Finally, cocoa prices continue to skyrocket thanks to a series of developments that have made it more difficult for chocolate companies to secure beans. New York-traded cocoa futures surged above $10,000 per ton for the first time ever this week, briefly making beans pricier than copper. Harvesting problems, bad weather, and crop disease in the cocoa-growing region of West Africa are to blame for the supply shortages.
