Shipping appears to have benefited from the US-China tariff ceasefire along with the broader market, with dry bulk stocks enjoying the most gains.
"Today made a lot of sense for dry bulk," said Deutsche Bank analyst Amit Mehrotra. "China is the biggest incremental driver for dry bulk."
After news the US and China would go back to the negotiating table, Scorpio Bulkers shot up 10.4% to close at $5.08 while Star Bulk Carriers, Golden Ocean Group and Safe Bulkers went up 6.4% to $9.67, $6.18 and $1.66.
Seaspan gained 3.7% to end the day at $10.17.
More broadly, the Dow Jones Industrial Average edged up 0.4% to 26,717, the Nikkei 225 2.13% to 21,729.97 and the FTSE 100 just under 1% to 7,497.50.
Mehrotra said it's not surprising to see shipping stocks shoot up when the larger market does.
"Whenever anyone gets more positive on demand, shipping stocks are one of the biggest beneficiaries, given that the market capitalizations are pretty low," he said.
Among other sectors, Navigator Holdings was up $0.42, or 4.5%, to $9.78. Navigator has found high demand for ethylene in China and the rest of the Far East.
Scorpio Tankers was up nearly $0.70 to $30.21, an increase of 2.34%, continuing what Mehrotra called a "phenomenal run" driven by the incoming IMO 2020 emissions regulations, rather than trade talks.
"You can kind of see the IMO trade, institutional investors are kind of convinced by it," he said.
