John’s Blog

8-30-10

Dear Friends,

A little bit of good news to report. Consumer confidence improved slightly in August to a reading of 68.9 up from 67.8 in July according to the Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan monthly report.

Consumer spending improved in July by 0.4% after being flat in June so hopefully the consumer as starting to get back into buying which is what this economy needs.

The Commerce Department reported that they have revised their GDP figures down to 1.6% in the second quarter. The number was earlier reported as 2.4% so the growth rate is low and slow.

The bad news continues to be in home sales where existing home sales fell to the lowest level in 15 years in July. Sobering news for what is normally a peak month for home sales.

When excluding commercial aircraft, orders for manufactured goods were down by 3.8% according to the Commerce Department. Business orders for capital goods fell 8% driving the fear that economy has hit the brakes.

July inventories of manufactured goods went up by 0.6% so it reasons that manufacturing will adjust now that the restocking has taken place after the slow pace of 2009.

Truck tonnage improved by 7.4% year over year in July according to the American Trucking Association. The ATA also said the year to date tonnage is up 6.7%.

The American Association of Railroads likewise said that intermodal traffic hit a new high for the second straight week. The AAR said container handling was up 24.4% and trailers were up 12.4%.

At Wagner we are seeing a slowly improving economy with our transportation business doing well and a lot of activity in many of our distribution centers while others continue to have capacity.

Should you be planning any projects for 2011 involving plant manufacturing support, retail vendor distribution center operations, e-commerce fulfillment, or transportation services, please let us at Wagner show you what we can do.

We are most interested in helping you grow your business.

Have a great week!

John Wagner Jr

John’s Blog

8-23-10

Dear Friends,

The economy continues to sluggishly move forward with positive numbers.

The Labor Department says prices paid to US producers rose 0.2% in July, the first increase in four months. The Producer Price Index went up 0.3% if one excludes food and energy.

The Conference Board released their Leading Economic Index showing a 0.1% increase in July. They say that while the industrial industries are slowing their pace of rebuilding inventories, one should expect a slow expansion for the rest of 2010.

The Federal Reserve reported industrial production increased 0.1% in July with factory output up by 1.1% led by the auto industry. The Fed also said that the share of industrial capacity in use went up to 74.8% in July from 74.1% in June. The output of autos and parts were the real news with an increase of 9.9%.

Other positive news is that housing starts grew 1.7% in July according to the Commerce Department. The counter-point is that building permits fell 3.1% so this area of the economy is still trying to find a sustainable recovery track.

Trucking did it its part in helping unemployment by adding 5,900 jobs in July. Private sector jobs increased by 71,000 with 36,000 of these new jobs in manufacturing.

The Department of Transportation released their June freight transportation services index showing a year over year improvement of 4.1%.

The Association of American Railroads reported that US rails originated 233,767 intermodal containers/trailers with a record number of containers at 199,859 units. Containers continue strong while trailers are moderating.

At Wagner we have enjoyed a good summer of activity making a lot of operational improvements to increase productivity and quality. As always, if you have a logistical challenge or new distribution opportunities don’t hesitate to reach out and talk to us.

With Wagner’s extensive experience in distribution center operations, fulfillment and transportation you will find Wagner to be a capable partner.

Have a great week!

John Wagner Jr