Shipping stocks took a beating Monday, while the stock market had its worst day of 2019 thanks to new volleys fired in the US-China trade war.
The S&P 500 and Dow Industrial Average both slid nearly 3%, while the Nasdaq Composite fell 3.47% as China allowed the yuan to drop below 7 per dollar.
Meanwhile, every single New York-traded shipping stock ended the day in the red, save Hornbeck Offshore which inched up $0.09 to $0.96.
"China, China, China," said Jefferies analyst Randy Giveans. "You look at dayrates, they're not that much different today than they were Friday.
"When we think about who facilitates global trade, it's shipping companies."
Among the worst performers Monday were Golar LNG, GasLog, Scorpio Tankers and Matson.
Golar LNG dropped $1.42, or 9.05%, to $14.27. GasLog feel $1.19, or 8.54%, to $12.69. Scorpio Tankers took a 6.52% hit, losing $1.65 on its share price, finishing the day at $23.66.
Matson had the worst day of all blue water shipping companies on a dollar basis. The Hawaiian boxship owner, which offers service to China, lost $2.13 off its share price, closing at $36.74.
"The trade headlines have, and this is not just for shipping, everybody so spooked that they're going to sell and worry later," one analyst said.
But when it comes to tankers at least "everybody should be doing backflips," he added, noting the orderbook is small ahead of the IMO 2020 emissions regulations set to kick in 1 January.
For tankers, China is not importing any US crude oil and crude is not on the tariff list.
Still, tanker owners suffered Monday, with Teekay Corp falling $0.42 to $3.67, Frontline dropping $0.50 to $6.77 and Ardmore Shipping falling $0.36 to $6.56.
