U.S. Railroads Have No Idea What’s Around the Bend: Supply Lines

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Long before talk of driverless trucks, 3-D printing and drone delivery, old-school economic oracles from Warren Buffett to Alan Greenspan watched the railways for early signs of an oncoming U.S. recession. This freight train, however, arrived with little warning.

According to data from the Association of American Railroads, carloads of commodities have slumped for the past seven straight weeks, reaching their lowest level in records going back to 1999 when you exclude the usual year-end ...