John’s Blog

5-17-10

Dear Friends,

In the news last week was the growth in consumer confidence with the May reading increasing to a 73.3 reading from a 72.2 level in April. This corresponds with the growth in retailing which was up 0.4% in April, the seventh monthly gain.

Industrial production picked up in April rising 0.8% so the numbers are moving in the right direction as reported by the Federal Reserve. The Commerce Department said that business inventories increased 0.4 and total business sales were up 2.3% for the sixth straight monthly increase.

If gains in employment continue with some wage improvement then perhaps we can see our way out of the current economy. The wild card is the global economy as concerns about Europe continue to rock the financial markets.

All of this positive news is reflected in the Transportation Department’s Freight Transportation Index which measures ton miles. The TSI March report shows a monthly increase of 0.9% in March and a year over year increase of 2.6%.

IANA reported that intermodal volume increased 8.4% in the fourth quarter and that much of that growth came from domestic container traffic. Domestic volume grew 9% and international container traffic increased 7.8%.

While the DOE says that the price of diesel will be over $3.00 per gallon for the remainder of the year, the national average price fell 3.3 cents to $3.094 Monday. This is the biggest drop in price in 16 weeks.

One last bit of good news is that US heavy duty truck sales grew 29.5% last month. As carriers are looking at more freight it looks like equipment replacement is taking place with this fourth straight increase in monthly sales.

It appears that we are moving in the right direction on several fronts as most carriers report better volume and some signs of pricing strength swinging from Shippers back to the Carriers.

Have a great week!

John Wagner Jr