One of the lesser-known fundamentals underpinning the global economy is the Baltic Dry Index, a benchmark that measures dry-bulk shipping rates.  Dry bulk goods include the most commonly used raw materials, like grains, coal, and metals.  When global economies are booming, demand for these inputs (and the ships to transport them) fuels high day rates for companies like DryShips (NDAQ:DRYS) to transport these goods across the world’s oceans.  

The Baltic Dry Index (BDI) tracks rates in the 22 main shipping routes for these key inputs.  The BDI has plummeted in the past several months, as the U.S. financial crisis has snowballed into a global economic downturn and the consumption of raw materials has ground to a halt.  For example, China is the world’s biggest consumer of steel, but it has cut its consumption as infrastructure projects