John’s Blog

2-14-11

Dear Friends,

The good news coming out of last week was the increase in consumer confidence. The February reading of 75.1 was up from 74.2 in January according to the Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan report. As a point of reference this index averaged 89 in the 5 years prior to the end of 2007. This increase in consumer confidence helps to explain a 4.8% in January retail sales.

The Department of Commerce said that wholesale inventories increased 1% in December while durable goods were up 0.8% and non-durables were up 1.2%.

The labor market continues its slow crawl towards improvement with the number of people filing for state unemployment benefits falling to a 2 ½ year low. The Labor Department said that the four week average fell by 16,000 to 415,000 from the previous week’s average of 431,500.

The spot market for truckload transportation spiked up 62% year over year in January according to the TransCore North American Freight Index. This was the highest January volume recorded by the index. Spot van rates were up 14% year over year with flatbed rates up 11%.

The DOT freight index reported an increase of 1.5% from November to December and a bump of 0.4% from 2009 to 2010. This index has improved 14 out of the previous 19 months measuring the output of services by the for-hire transportation industries of trucking, railroads, and inland waterways.

The Intermodal Association of North America reported that US intermodal volume grew 14.7% in 2010 from the deep trough in 2009. International container volume bounced back 18.5%. For all of 2010 intermodal volume was just under 13.4 million domestic and international containers and trailers. This volume is about 2% less than in 2008.

At Wagner we are enjoying good volume in the first quarter with lots of activity across many business segments. Strong activity in the 3^rd and 4^th quarters of 2010 has carried over into 2011.

Please let me know if there is a reason to get together and discuss any anticipated changes in your supply chain. With Wagner’s strong team we are prepared to tackle any distribution center, fulfillment, transportation or packaging projects.

Have a great week!

John Wagner Jr