Source: Cass Information Systems, Inc.
After a promising Shipments Index in October broke the string of 20 months in negative territory, November fell back into negative territory, albeit slightly. We have seen a wide range of results in the different modes: from continued volume growth in parcel and airfreight driven by e-commerce, to a sequential improvement in truck tonnage, to less bad rail and barge volume overall. Although it is far too early to make a ‘change in trend’ call, data is beginning to suggest that the consumer is finally starting to spend a little, and that with the recent surge in the price of crude the industrial economy’s rate of deceleration has eased. If the winter of the current year-and-a-half freight recession in the U.S. is not over, it is certainly showing increasing signs of thawing.
