The Baltic Dry Index (BDI) gauges the volume of shipping activities across the globe. As a daily index, it is a useful, timely indicator to assess global economic activity. Refresh the chart in your browser | Edit chart in Datastream Throughout the month of January, the BDI tumbled by over 55%, hitting its trough on 11 February 2020. The index was last lower in 2015–16, when according to Fathom’s measure of underlying economic activity China’s economy was also slowing sharply. This latest downturn, which is on the back of a normalisation following the sharp uptick in global sentiment over the first half