Economy: Keep On Rolling

If we believe the doom & gloom in the media then the economic situation in the U.S. is getting worse and we are on the brink of a new recession. But signals from the real economy show that the U.S. is  still doing well. Bloomberg reported yesterday that" two measures of trucking activity signal the industry remains steady and has even firmed up since mid-May" (bloomberg).

The news service referred to 2 trucking indices which rose in April. The for-hire truck-tonnage index gained 2.8% in April from a year earlier, up from 0.2 percent the prior month, marking 29 months of growth. The economy has never contracted without tonnage turning negative first, so the truck figures are a leading indicator, providing the “first signal” of a slump, explain analysts. Another index, the index of U.S. truck loadings, that tracks the movement of goods between manufacturers and consumers, increased 3% and reached the highest level since 2008.

And the tracking company Landstar reported in its mid-quarter update, that both the economy and the operating environment for them are “pretty much as forecasted,” moving “in a northerly direction, albeit in a slow and sometimes choppy pace” (bloomberg).

"Rising truck shipments show that the U.S. economic expansion is intact", commented Bloomberg.