John’s Blog

12-6-10

Dear Friends,

Reports from ManPower and ADP show employment getting better in the private sector but the Department of Labor’s numbers show that unemployment has gotten worse moving from 9.6% in October to 9.8% in November.

Online sales increased 19% on Cyber Monday as web retailers’ boosted deals and sales. The average order rose 8.3% to $194.89.

November consumer confidence improved to a 54.1 reading, up from 49.9 in October. In that consumer spending is 70% of the economy; this bodes well for holiday spending.

Manufacturing fell slightly in November according to the Institute for Supply Management. The ISM monthly factory index dipped to 56.6 from 56.9 in October. Any reading over 50 indicates expansion so November is the 19^th straight month of manufacturing expansion.

The ISM index also showed that inventories are moving down with a November reading of 45.5 compared against 44 in October.

The Department of Commerce reports factory orders fell 0.9% in October for the first drop in 4 months. Durable goods (appliances & autos) orders fell 3.4% and non-durable (food and oil) grew 1.5%. Orders had increased 3% in September.

Following the November elections, Chief Executive Magazine’s CEO Confidence Index rose 14.4% to a reading of 102.1. The index looks at confidence in employment, capital spending, and economic conditions.

In transportation, the American Association of Railroads said that for the week ending November 27^th intermodal traffic increased 10.8% which was surprising for the Thanksgiving week. 183,790 trailers and containers were handled by the railroads with a 11.7% increase in containers (155,374 units) and a 6.1% rise in trailers (28,416 units). 254,121 carloads were handled that week for a 3.2% year over year increase.

In trucking the Cass Freight Index for shipments grew 2.8% in November after experiencing a 5.2% drop in October. Year over year the November index stands at a 14.8% increase. In terms of expenditures, greater demand and higher freight rates caused a 24.6% increase in expense over the same month in 2009.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has delayed the implementation of the CSA 2010 regulations for one week and now is targeting its launch for December 12^th. It is estimated that this safety initiative will drive out between 175,000 to 200,000 unsafe drivers nationwide making the driver shortage a continuing concern.

At Wagner we are wrapping up the year and looking forward to 2011. Wagner has a nice pipeline of opportunities we are working and we believe that we are well positioned to take advantage of a recovering economy by helping companies get better through our use of technology and our performance approach to operating.

Should you have a need for distribution center operations, fulfillment, transportation or packaging services, don’t hesitate to give us a call. Let’s work together to boost performance.

Have a great week!

John Wagner Jr