I like to glance through the Cass Freight Report Index. Want to know what is happening in the economy almost real-time? Look at freight. There are legendary stories about how traders worked their tails off to get Fedex or UPS data real-time for some edge. This is a short report, and you can glance at the first page and then see how much more you want. "The trend of 2012: Slow growth in freight volumes.... The trend in North American freight volumes continues to follow the path of general malaise that the economy is experiencing."