Why Star Bulk Carriers Stock Just Popped 15%

Star Bulk Carriers (NASDAQ: SBLK) stock is riding high Monday, up 15.3% as of 10:30 a.m. EST. The dry bulk shipper, which carries commodity cargoes such as iron ore, coal, and grain from country to country, appears to be benefiting from a recent uptick in shipping rates on the Baltic Dry Index.

The index, which roughly tracks the average cost of shipping bulk cargo from place to place (and thus predicts the profits of dry bulk shipping stocks), hit a recent bottom two weeks ago at 1,111 -- down nearly 50% from early October, when the index was approaching 2,100.

The index is not yet back up to where it once was, but it did return to 1,230 over the weekend, climbing more than 10% over the past two weeks.

Source Fool.com