A differing reaction to the escalation of tariffs and trade-war threats may be spurring the divergence of two distinct health checks on the dry bulk market.

That at least is the view of John Kartsonas, managing partner of Breakwave Advisors, which advises the first publicly traded exchange trade fund (ETF) to have direct exposure to dry bulk freight rates.

Its Breakwave Dry Bulk Shipping ETF — trading under ticker symbol BDRY — has risen 31% since the last bottoming of the Baltic Dry Index (BDI) on 31 May.