1) I started to subscribe to the ECRI Economic Cycle data and as best as I can tell from their Weekly Leading Index the economy slipped into a recession around January; they haven't made the "call" yet, however; on their site, they also measure the 6 month change in this indicator and the six month change has gotten to levels seen at past major lows (i.e., 1987, 1991, 1995, etc).  As a side bar to all this and maybe someone smarter than me can shed light on this: if you de-trend the S&P500 price data and ECRI Weekly Leading index, they tend to be highly correlated.  I think stock prices are part of their index and we all know that stock prices turn down several months in advance of a recession and turn up several months in advance of an expansion. 

2) While Delta Global focuses on shipping, I noticed a very important and interesting dichotomy in the Transport sector as well.  Railroads are exploding higher while airlines are probing new lows.  Railroads never really entered a bear market even though the Dow Jones Transport Index did.