Railroad steam coal shipments continued their downward plunge, even as other categories of freight brought the industry back to its highest volume levels since the end of 2008. Coal continues lagging behind railroad gains this year in the same way that it lagged behind other commodities’ losses in 2009. While recent analyst reports from UBS and Wolfe Research predict second-half gains, the ultimate arbiter of coal’s recovery — and the timing — will be utilities that, to this point, still have above average stockpiles.
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