John’s Blog

October 13, 2008

Dear Friends,

Let’s start off with some positive news for a change.  The trade imbalance is coming down due to the falling price of oil and uncertainty in the world economy.  Oil has fallen below $80 per barrel and other commodity prices are falling as well.

As bad as things appear to be in the United States, the rest of the world seems to be doing worse.  The effects of the banking rescue by the G7 nations will take some time to get traction and when they do we should see the return of liquidity that is hindering the banking industry now.

Don’t be overly fearful of what has happened in the stock market over the last two weeks.  I attach a chart that I hope will give us all some perspective.  Historically the market bounces back as it will this time and the economy will recover.  Regardless of who is President they will be imposing regulations to keep the mortgage and banking businesses from repeating the mistakes of the past.

Intermodal volume rose unexpectedly to 244,825 units (trailers & containers) which is an increase of 0.8 a year ago.  Other carload traffic was flat or slightly declining.

SAIA and other trucking companies are cost cutting through reduced staffing and it seems that the unemployment figures across the US will remain high.

An end to the restriction on available capital will be welcomed by the trucking industry as they need lending capacity to replace tractors and trailers.

After 62 years in business Wagner has seen the ups and downs in the economy and we are still aggressively looking for opportunities to grow our company through expanding with our existing fine group of clients and finding new companies to collaborate with in reaching supply chain efficiencies. As you plan for 2009 please keep Wagner in mind. 

Have a great week.

John Wagner Jr.