Source: Logistics Management
An atypical late in the year holiday season bump was evident, based on data issued this week in the most recent edition of the Port Tracker report issued by the National Retail Federation (NRF) and maritime consultancy Hackett Associates.
Source: The Conference Board
“Consumer Confidence improved further in December, due solely to increasing Expectations which hit a 13-year high (Dec. 2003, 107.4),” said Lynn Franco, Director of Economic Indicators at The Conference Board. “The post-election surge in optimism for the economy, jobs and income prospects, as well as for stock prices which reached a 13-year high, was most pronounced among older consumers. Consumers’ assessment of current conditions, which declined, still suggests that economic growth continued through the final months of 2016. Looking ahead to 2017, consumers’ continued optimism will depend on whether or not their expectations are realized.”
OVERLAND PARK, Kan., January 9, 2017 – MIQ Logistics is pleased to announce the opening of a newly constructed global logistics facility in Houston, located at 8575 Volta Dr, Humble, TX 77338. The new facility is 56,404 square feet, featuring a value-added warehouse, one acre secured storage yard, and 3,500 square feet bonded cage. The facility also includes an area for crating and packing and office space for the local MIQ import, export, and project logistics professionals.
Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 156,000 in December, and the unemployment rate was little changed at 4.7 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Job growth occurred in health care and social assistance.
A Tax on Imports?
Yes, this is under serious consideration. President-Elect Trump has complained repeatedly about the unfair advantage enjoyed by nearly all of America’s trading partners, almost all of whom employ consumption-based value-added taxes (VAT) as a revenue source. The “unfair” advantage results from zero-rating exports and fully taxing imports. Because the US derives revenues primarily from income taxes, WTO rules make it difficult to implement a similar “border adjustment”
Source: Institute for Supply Management
Economic activity in the manufacturing sector expanded in December, and the overall economy grew for the 91st consecutive month, say the nation’s supply executives in the latest Manufacturing ISM® Report On Business®.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau
Sales. The U.S. Census Bureau announced today that the combined value of distributive trade sales and manufacturers’ shipments for October, adjusted for seasonal and trading-day differences but not for price changes, was estimated at $1,326.8 billion, up 0.8 percent (±0.2%) from September 2016 and was up 2.1 percent (±0.4%) from October 2015.
Source: The American Trucking Associations
American Trucking Associations’ advanced seasonally adjusted (SA) For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index surged 8.2% in November, following a 0.3% drop during October. In November, the index equaled 142.4 (2000=100), up from 131.6 in October. The all-time high was 144 in February.
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.
The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) designed the eManifest initiative to modernize and improve cross-border commercial processes. When fully implemented, eManifest will require all carriers, freight forwarders and importers to electronically transmit advance commercial information about their shipments.
