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February 6, 2010
Edited: February 6, 2010
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As a trainer I sit in the passenger seat while the trainee drives and I get to look around a lot. I find myself looking into the parking lots of malls and such trying to figure out where people are spending money in hopes of seeing some confidence in the economy and some consumer spending.
Sorry, but I don't see much. I see a whole lot of empty parking spaces, even at Walmart. The only thing I noticed in the last couple weeks was some full parking lots at some restaurants, like Chili's, Texas Steakhouse's and the like. You know! The mid grade places, not fast food restaurants.
When I run my screeners, I'm seeing mostly ETF's and they don't look the greatest, so, still no new picks. I've got one open pick left now, UNG which got a bit of a run with the storm that hit the east coast, I guess, but still watching it and it may be gone soon, too.
As for the trucking industry. Arrow trucking, one fo the biggest flatbed carriers went bankrupt, stranding some 1500 drivers all over the U.S. with no credit on their fuel cards to get home. They had instructions to take their trucks to the nearest dealerships and hand in the keys, where they would get $200 for bus fair to get home. This happened just before Christmas, by the way. Lots of drivers looking for jobs.
A few smaller trucking companies have reported to Road Dog radio (on sirius) that they are going through a structured closing and calling all their drivers to come home and once they complete some existing contracts they are gone, done, finnito. More drivers looking for jobs.
Me, I'm still running, but most of my earning are going to fuel, maintenance and repairs.
