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John's Blog 09-6-10 Print E-mail

John’s Blog

9-6-10

Dear Friends,

I hope that everyone had a great holiday as we head into the last month of the third quarter.

Initial jobless claims declined by 6,000 the week ending August 29th, the second straight decline after a month of increases, the Labor Department said last Thursday.

The four-week moving average, decreased to 485,500, from 488,000 the prior week for some good news on unemployment despite the fact that the overall rate clicked up to 9.6%. The private sector showed an increase of 67,000 jobs beating expectations.

The Institute of Supply Management released their purchasing managers’ index showing an August reading of 56.3 up from 55.5 in July. When the ISM reading is over 50 it indicates expanded manufacturing. The ISM new orders index was down a little at 53.1 in August from 53.5 in July. The ISM production index was up to 59.9 in August from 57.0 in July. Taken all together this is good news for the nation’s factories.

The ISM nonmanufacturing purchasing managers' index fell to 51.5 in August, from 54.3 in July signifying a slow down in the service industries.

The real surprise last week was from the retail sector which came back to life. 2/3s of the 27 retailers surveyed by Thompson Reuters reported better than forecast sales. Sales at stores open more than one year increased 3.3%. This will make retailers re-think their inventory levels if consumers are starting to come back to life.

Sales of existing homes also improved in August lifting the mood.

Trucking enjoyed its 8th consecutive monthly gain according to the American Trucking Association. The ATA said that July tonnage was up 7.4% year over year and had increased 1.5% from June. The ATA index increased to 110.2 getting it back to the April level of activity it had slipped in May and June.

Cass Information confirmed the increased freight trend by reporting that shipments in August rose 16.5% from the same month last year.

If the consumer keeps buying and manufacturing continues its upward trend, one should expect that a tight trucking market will continue for the rest of the year while freight volumes improve.

I would like to thank Mike Millard for a tour of the MWV Calmar plant and distribution center in Grandview MO last week. Mike takes a lot of pride in his DC and it shows as it has the automation and performance attitude that I really admire. This is a fine example of American manufacturing at its best.

At Wagner we are enjoying the usual bump in seasonal volume as we produce thousands of complex floor ready pallet displays though Wagner’s packaging operations. E-Commerce fulfillment is active as is our transportation group in helping in the current capacity shortage.

Should you have any projects on the horizon please give us a call. I know that many are planning for 2011. I welcome an invitation to the table should you be interested in an outsourced solution for distribution warehousing, fulfillment, contract packaging or transportation. Wagner has the team and technology to help where needed.

Have a great week!

John Wagner Jr

 
Transportation Logistics News 08-30-10 Print E-mail
Transportation Logistics News 08-30-10
 
John's Blog 08-30-10 Print E-mail

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

 
Transportation Logistics News 08-23-10 Print E-mail
Transportation Logistics News 08-23-10
 
Morgan Stanley TLFI 08-20-10 Print E-mail
Morgan Stanley TLFI 08-20-10
 
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