BTIG is quite bullish on dry-bulk shipping for 2021, so much so that it is initiating coverage of New York-listed owners Eagle Bulk Shipping and Diana Shipping with "buy" ratings.

The US investment bank expects both companies and most of the dry-bulk market to benefit in the year ahead from strong steel prices and continued coal demand from Asia.

Eagle Bulk's shares, which trade on the Nasdaq stock exchange under the ticker symbol EGLE, declined 4.5%