Rail Traffic Data Belies Recovery

It's Thursday and the railfax report is out.

You'll notice that the first derivative of rail traffic (YoY change; the Y-axis) has gotten worse and the second derivative (slope of YoY change) has gotten worse as well.

Shorts have been squeezed out of the market.

Further: State Taxes Take a Nose Dive

California Treasurer Bill Lockyer asked U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on Wednesday to authorize assistance for his state from the federal Troubled Asset Relief Program, warning that depressed tax revenues may cut into basic services and halt the building of infrastructure.