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Freight Shipment Volumes Plunge To Lowest In Two Years
Freight shipment volumes are rather obviously seasonal, but as Bloomberg Brief notes, the Cass Freight index shows shipment volumes have slumped for four consecutive months and are back to their worst levels in two years. This is the first year-over-year contraction since the 2007-2009 Great Recession - and places the reality of the dismal Q4 GDP print in context. If that wasn't enough good news about the real economy, the cyclicality of the shipments are losing momentum (i.e. each seasonal rebound in the last three years has been weaker - just as we saw in the lead up to 2008) and freight expenditures fell in January leading to a 1.6% drop over the last year - compared to a 27.2% rise in January 2011, and 22.2% rise in January 2012. As Cass noted, these volumes will not be enough to "have a significant impact on the unemployment numbers."
Cass Shipments (upper pane) are back at two-year lows but critically the momentum of each seasonal cycle (lower pane) has been weaker and weaker in recent years...
and Freight expenditure is now negative YoY for first time in three years...
Charts: Bloomberg
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THOSE FLYING SAUCERES ARE TAKING OUT SHIPPING JOBS!!
Must be union
None of these fundamentals matter at all to the movement of “capital” and paper pricing of assets in the new normal where all things are paper priced and fractionalized according to the “policy” of politics and bank agendas..
until they all matter a lot and all at once.
QE5 coming.
Bullish
news!
Very bullish, in fact.
People are obviously spending massive amounts of fiat to build what they want & need via the expensive, advanced 3D Printing method within the confines of their homes and small businesses.
This is good for the economy, good for the environment, and the dawning of a new manufacturing Renaissance.
Printed out a 3D roast beef the other day. It was tasty but I had to use a lot of gravy cause it was a bit dry.
Roast beef? You've been "horsin' around" again.
THE SHIT JUST GOT REAL!!!
I bet you'll even be able to make gold coins with them if they find something to meld gold wire...
Remember, Greedspan said the market is the economy!
/sarc
I'm afraid if the S&P closes above 1525 today, there will be much more pain for shorts. By my reckoning, the current upper channel line seems to be right around 1525, and it seems someone wants the S&P to break out instead of head for the bottom of the channel.
Of course, max pain theory says a false breakout and then lower.
Swap enough derivatives and the freight volume just becomes noise in the GDP.
THEY TOOK OUR JOERBS!
THU TUUK U JUUUBBBSSS!!
It's called VACUUM PAKCAGING!!!
It's sucks out the air and you can put in twice as much.
I'm thinking the quality of products has gone up so there are fewer returns to Amazon. This is actually bullish.
You sir could have a brilliant career at the BLS.
Similar to 2007 Head and Shoulders chart pattern.
http://i50.tinypic.com/fywrq.jpg
If there is any datapoint that shows China's exports (and therefore, economy) is slipping....this is it.
WMT will sweat a bit more this morning.
When Chinamart, I mean Walmart said that their revenues for Feb were horrible and falling off the cliff, I knew this was good for at least a 50 point DJIA rise. This news probably good for a like amount.
DJIA now up 53. Call me Nostra fucking damus. Just add POMO.
Not just Walmart, but now even Whole Foods...
Man, these FOOLS don't know...the shit is gettin' REAL...
*I've been on edge ever since they took kombucha off the shelf.
You are Nostra fucking damus
Yes - DSXO (Discretionary Spending eXcluding Obama) is falling fast. I don't understand, is it because my taxes just went up, my health insurance premium just went up, or my gasoline is costing me $4.70 a gallon? Thank God there's no inflation or I'd be in the hurt locker.
Baltic Dry Index is back at historic lows.
Guess that means recession is over. Prosperity for everyone.
Well, it's because oil is as cheap as piss and that's whats pressing the costs? No?....
When goods and services stop crossing borders, troops will. Same as it ever was...
Mrs. Cog and I are readying for war. We will know it is right around the corner when the nationalistic cheering is the loudest.
Indeed. Compared to 1907, China=Germany and U.S.=France. As a former AMEDD officer, it hurts to have to say this about the new military model, but here we are.
Frieght volume clearly shifting to EFTs so net effect is bullish....sarc off now....
This is exceedingly bullish news! Futures are up! Go long everything!
The various black holes are slowly being drawn into the singularity.
<What's that sucking sound I hear?>
Possibly the last thing you will probably hear.
Long :Global thermonuclear War.
Noone ships anything anymore..we just send Bit money...electronic fiat...we don´t make things anymore...we have invented synthetic Derivitives...much better and eco friendly....
Yes, but did you see Kate Middleton's baby bump?
And that "Blade Runner" guy. What a terrible thing.
Oh, and the Lakers. What of the Lakers?
Priorities, bitchez.
I always get a kick out of the term 'baby bump'. Why isn't it a 'fetus bump'? I asked a pro-abortion activist that question one time and she showed me her IQ by raising a single finger. I thanked her for informing me of her IQ and she turned purple. If only there had been a 'purple people' eater around...
Didn't you know that, like quantum particles, unborn humans are effected by the mere act of observation, as well as the state of the observer.
If the observer wants the unborn human, it is a cute, cuddly miraculous "baby".
If the observer does not want the unborn human, it is a yucky, slimy, parasitic "fetus".
Duh!
I certainly hope the freight decline doesn't effect the Kardashians
Currency wars then real wars. Like the history of the last century.
meh, show me the data after June, otherwise this is the typical cyclical movement.
yeah, typical for depressions
Hope and Change. This should be good enough for a 200 point rally in the Dow. Still railroad robber baron Warner Beuffer still loves Obummer. Crony facism.
Elections DO have consequences. You have to play the cards you are dealt. If economic repression is what we get, play their game (or not: by buying gold).
But be ready to bail... The guys at the top are not our friends.
US elections are a simple continuum.
Consequences preordained.
And no, one does not "have to play cards you are dealt."
and................................................
"WELCOME TO THE RECOVERY...."
Sincerely,
Timmy
this is mind boggling, as the Squid says the world is on the verge of an epic surge; all markets on green.
how come the shipment stats dont say this?
Has the squid lost his global compass and commercial bible?
That info is for their clients. They trade the other side, remember ???
When you run out of 'natural' greater fools just whip up the next batch.
<OK so that's two parts greed, one part hubris, an eye of Newt Gringrich........>
They will be graduating from high schools and colleges in May.
imagine Harvard runs a course on leadership skills; I know where all those bright eyed MBAs end up : as GS shills selling the pot of gold at end of rainbow; all the while they take your fees and their contrarian put plays to the bank!
Having said that, to get to the top of that infamous heap, you must have a nose that can stand any type of stench, for ten + years doing all the dirty leg work; Abacus and Abacus squared, seeing your clients burn their dreams.
Bllankfein's smile says it all if you can get past that landmark pyramid of shitpile, branded as potential 33 degree squid meister of banksta world.
the "feel" out there in stores, on the roads, etc. is palpable and it ain't a good one.
Purely my personal observation, but a trip through various parts of normally busy Northern Virginia mid day Sunday was surprising for its reduced vehicle traffic and only half full mall and shopping center parking lots.
Dismal forward outlook from UPS and FedEx support this data.
Damn, I'm amazed how the markets continue to hover just inside the green, It's like magic...day after day...
week after week, month after month, year after year.
It is magic....magic fairy dust appearing out of nowhere and the Bernanke spreading it around.
The boxcar doors are open boys. Time to get back East.
Don't worry frieght shipments will go up when the keystone pipleline is nixed again so buffets trains can get the contract to ship the oil.
Stepping back a bit, looks like frieght is just about at the 1994 level!
1994 was a pretty good time to get into the stock market. And now?
This is why the stock market is up today. Couldnt understand what was going on but, now this makes perfect sense!
I smell slowly boiling frogs . . . .
There's nothing like the smell of freshly baked muppets in the morning.
I'm in this business and can tell you we are down over 40% from last year Jan/Feb. The slowdown started to show up in Oct and Nov and Dec were down y/y by about 20%. We keep hoping next month will see a pickup. I'm using my meager profits to buy shiny metal things
If it fits, it ships!
Check out Baltic Dry Index too...738...yikes..
This will get real interesting when we dip down to the 2002 level and then 2008 level.
The BDI is still one sick puppy! And getting sicker.
Has never made it back, near to its 200 DMA let alone touching it, since the crash.
Rail car loadings have fallen off a cliff!
And can someone tell me what has happened to the Ceridean/UCLA Index? Last published May 2012.
I guess something or someone, doesn't want the public to know just how sick the transport sector is.
TRAN so sick in fact it is at all time highs, targeting another +37%:
http://stockcharts.com/freecharts/gallery.html?s=%24tran
/sarc off...
BDI in a world of hurt, target -61%:
http://stockcharts.com/freecharts/gallery.html?s=%24bdi
I'd like to see the ex-coal shipments. The coal market is being decimated from low natural gas prices.
Getting the garden in now.
Adding 40% to mine this year...
Intermodal rail containers and trailers up +5.7% YTD:
http://www.logisticsmgmt.com/article/rail_and_intermodal_volumes_are_mix...
Intermodal (piggyback) proves shippers are using rail more, rather then road transport which is more expensive. This is where the Ceridian/UCLA Index came in handy, measuring diesel usage by the trucking sector. The Index stopped publishing data as of May last year! Sure would like to see where the index sits today!
Rail coal shipments (tonnage) have fallen off a cliff.