Shippers sailed rough seas in 2008 economic storm

They carry laptops and toys, cars and coal, but they're not Santa's elves, and they weren't very jolly this holiday season.

It's been a devastating year for the nation's railroads, trucking companies and package shippers - the companies on the "front lines" of the economic recession. Shipments have plunged as retailers pulled back on orders and consumers tied their purse strings tight in preparation for more hard times. Swiftly accelerating oil prices through the first seven months of the year crippled companies even more.

The Dow Jones Transportation Average, which incorporates railroads, shippers, airlines and logistics companies, lost a quarter of its value in 2008 and fell more drastically - by about a third - in the last three months of the year. That compares with a 40 percent decline for the Dow Jones Total Market index and a drop of 39 percent for the Standard & Poor's 500 index in 2008. Full Story......

Wholesale inventories, sales plunge in October

Wholesalers cut back on their inventories in October by the largest amount since the period following the 2001 terrorist attacks while they watched their sales plunge by a record amount.

Analysts predict more grim news in the months ahead as the current recession deepens.

The Commerce Department says wholesalers, the companies in the supply chain between manufacturers and retailers, reduced their inventories by 1.1 percent in October, the biggest cutback since a similar drop in inventories in November 2001.

The inventory decline was much bigger than the 0.2 percent decrease economists expected.

Sales at the wholesale level plunged by 4.1 percent in October, the largest decline on record.