There's been some low-bandwidth chatter lately about the plunge in the Baltic Dry Index, which is intended to track the price of shipping dry cargo along key routes. In the sort of "oh . . . wow . . . " manner passing drivers remark on multiple collisions on the highway, it's been noted that the BDI is down. A lot.

While the BDI has been dropping for months, the real collapse took place from the week after the Lehman bankruptcy. From a level of 4949 then, the BDI had, by last week, come down to 1149, for a decline over about a month of 76 per cent. This doesn't represent some piece of high-concept securitised paper meeting its maker in front of a judge; this is the real world of physical assets being employed to do actual work.