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FREIGHT ECONOMY * USA - Signs are afloat that it's slowly recovering
Upswing in consumer spending and sustained growth needed for freight transportation to fully recover, say analysts
Waltham,MASS,USA -Logistics Management,Jeff Berman -4 Sept 2009: -- Some recent economic indicators point to the possibility of the recession coming to an end, but before that is made official, more needs to happen, according to freight transportation and logistics experts... In the last two weeks there have been an abundance of signs signifying positive economic activity... Some examples include:· the Institute of Supply Management’s manufacturing index—the PMI—which covers the overall health of the manufacturing sector, rose four percentage points to 52.9 percent, marking the first time the index has climbed above 50 since the recession began—the 50 percent mark is typically viewed as the dividing line between “growth” and “contraction”;
· the Department of Commerce’s recent report that durable goods orders were up by its largest amount in two years, with a 4.9 percent bump, that has seen the increase up in three of the last four months;
· the Cass Information Systems Freight Index, which measures freight expenditures and payables, was up 1.3 percent in August compared to July.
Although these signs are encouraging, it by no means reflects a healthy and prosperous economy or freight transportation market. And they can easily be quelled by some less-than-rosy indicators, including: sluggish back-to-school retail sales, which typically signal increased consumer spending activity; improving but still down truck and railroad volumes; and low import totals at various U.S.-based ports, among others... (Images from limucross: "Our Limu has benefits!")
Labels: trucking industry opinions
posted by Unknown @ 6:53 AM
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