The stock market has boomed in the COVID era, driven by fiscal and monetary policy and surging retail-investor interest. Many ocean shipping stocks — with the glaring exception of tanker equities — have followed suit.
Which U.S.-listed shipping stocks rose the most?
Price gains arbitrarily depend on which date range you choose. For shipping, the current one-year range is perhaps the best gauge of stock moves.
Broader equity markets started rebounding in the third week of March 2020, after it became clear that the government’s policy response would boost equities despite the health threat.
The resuscitation of trade-linked stocks ensued a little later. Many shipping shares bottomed around May 2020. Thereafter, it became increasingly obvious that consumers would still spend despite lockdowns, that China — the central driver of ocean shipping — was not going to implode, and that industrial bulk commodities would remain in heavy demand.
Stocks of container liners, container-ship lessors and dry bulk have been on the rise ever since. Not so for crude and product tanker stocks, which have followed a different pricing pattern…
