Bunker Mentality

As tanker spot-chartering rates have experienced a mild recovery in recent months, equity analysts and industry pundits alike have eagerly anticipated a rebound in tanker company stocks to little avail. For the past couple years, the steadily-declining market capitalization of some of the biggest names in the business has come as no surprise given the general state of the freight environment. A wide variety of factors both material and psychological affect the performance of tanker equities in what appears to be a stag-flationary economic environment in the United States. Rising bunker prices in conjunction with an apprehensive investing public are making upward movement in tanker equities difficult. As stock prices represent a forward view of the market, it may suggest Wall Street is guessing tanker earnings will remain range-bound. Download here