The major commodity indexes started the morning in negative territory as concerns about Chinese growth weighed on market sentiment. The Wall Street Journal Reports, “Data early on Monday showed that China’s exports and imports both fell in December from a year ago as the impact of U.S. tariffs started to kick in and demand weakened.

On the U.S. economic calendar this week, we’ll get the latest figures on U.S. industrial production, capacity utilization, producer price inflation, and regional manufacturing, although some other key economic reports on retail sales and housing starts & building permits are likely to be delayed due to the government shutdown, which should continue to feature prominently.

The news last week was somewhat more encouraging given the reports of progress on U.S.-China trade talks and the release of minutes from the last Fed meeting that indicate “the extent and timing of further policy firming has become less clear.”

International Trade – Despite some onerous trade policy shifts, U.S. scrap exports are on track for their best performance since 2013. Which scrap commodities (and countries) are driving this change? Mostly paper and steel.

Last-mile logistics are seeing some interesting headlines. JB Hunt is acquiring another home delivery firm focused on large, bulky consumer goods.