August Economic Insights White Paper
U.S. Container Volume Hits 2,556,180 Import TEUs
Source – Descartes
- Month over Month: Increased by 14.7%
- Year over Year: Increased by 6%
- US Ports: Significant increases were observed at key ports like Los Angeles and New York/New Jersey
- Country of Origin: Chinese imports: 1,022,913 TEUs, setting a record high previously from July 2022
The Logistics Managers’ Index (LMI) Reported Growth to 56.5
Source – the-lmi.com
- Transportation Prices: 63.8 (highest reported since May 2022)
- Inventory Costs: 65.7
- Warehousing Capacity: 54.9
- Warehousing Utilization: 57.9
- Warehousing Prices: 60.9
- Transportation Utilization: 59.2
- Transportation Capacity: 50.9
- Inventory Levels: 49.5
U.S. manufacturing PMI Recorded 46.8%, Marking the Fourth Consecutive Month of Contraction
Source – ISM.com
- New Orders: Dipped to 47.4% (-1.7%)
- Production: Dropped to 45.9% (-2.6%)
- Employment: Declined to 43.4% (-5.9%)
- Supplier Deliveries: Grew to 52.6% (+2.8%)
- Inventories: Fell to 44.5% (-.09%)
- Customers’ Inventories: Declined to 45.8 (1.6%)
- Prices Index: Increased 52.9% (+0.8%)
- Backlog of Orders: Remained steady at 41.7
- New Export Orders: Grew to 49% (+0.2%)
- Imports Index: Grew to 48.5% (-2.6%)
The ATA For Hire Truck Tonnage Index Increased to 113.5
Source – Trucking.org
- Month-Over-Month: Rose by 0.3% in July, following a 2.0% rise in June.
- Year-Over-Year: Down .09% compared to July 2023, indicating the market slowly turning the corner.
- Not-seasonally Adjusted Index: Reported 116.7 in July, 3.4% above June.
U.S. Retail and Food Service Sales Reached $709.7 Billion
Source – Census.gov
- Month-Over-Month: Minor increase from June (+0.1%)
- Year-Over-Year: Increased at a rate of 2.7% compared to July 2023.
- Total sales: May through July were up 2.4% from the same period last year.
- Nonstore Retailers: Sales grew by 6.7% from June.
Cass Freight Index Insights
Source – Cassinfo.com
- Shipments: Increased by 3% to 1.110 compared to June 2024, reversing a four-month decline.
- Expenditures: Increased by 0.7% to 3.211 in July
- Inferred Freight Rates: Both shipment volumes and expenditures show a dip of 2.2% with the reported reading of 2.893, returning to the levels seen earlier in the year.
- Truckload Linehaul Index: Fell 1% in July to 137.5, marking the second consecutive month of contraction.