Traditionally the impact on spot rates over the summer resulting from increased demand for fruit and vegetables is significant. In a typical year, reefer spot rates increase on average by $0.29/mile between mid-April and July 4. Last year that didn’t happen mainly due to the multi-year drought in California, resulting in national reefer rates increasing…
Nowadays, your profitability as a carrier is tied to your ability to identify the best available loads before your competitors do. Having ready access to timely, comprehensive load information helps you save time and grow your business – and that’s where DAT comes in. Here are two ways you can leverage your DAT One subscription…
Understanding the demand for produce is critical to understanding supply and demand, and a great place to start is your local festival. Most produce-growing regions love to celebrate their annual harvest and typically hold a significant festival each year around the peak harvest time. Here are some key dates to watch: Florida Strawberry Festival –…
Builder confidence in the market for newly-built single-family homes in May increased by five points to 50, according to the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB)/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI). This marks the fifth straight month that builder confidence has increased and is the first time sentiment levels have reached the midpoint mark of…
On a recent cross-country road trip the entire length of Interstate 80, it was obvious that speed isn’t the issue regarding road safety. From a driver who has 2 million over-the-road miles behind them, it’s not speed that’s the problem; it’s the inappropriate speed for the current conditions. And it’s not linear (i.e., the faster…
Some recent truckload demand indexes align to paint a gloomy picture for truckload carriers looking for a rebound in freight demand this year. So far, many of the publicly traded trucking companies reported that they didn’t see the usual seasonal bounce in freight volumes in March that they expected, according to Prof. Jason Miller at…
The Spring 2023 Semiannual Economic Forecast by the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) forecasts the U.S. economy will continue to expand softly for the rest of 2023. The ISM expects the remainder of 2023 “are similar to those expressed in December 2022, despite continued inflation and geopolitical uncertainty”, according to Timothy R. Fiore, Chair of…
Truckload freight volumes declined, and national average spot rates for dry van and refrigerated (“reefer”) loads fell for the fourth consecutive month in April. The DAT Truckload Volume Index (TVI), a measure of loads moved during a given month, was lower for all three equipment types: Van TVI was 206, down 15.5% from March and…
The Fannie Mae Home Purchase Sentiment Index (HPSI) increased in April to its highest level since May 2022, jumping 5.5 points to 66.8. Year over year, the full index is down 1.7 points. All six of the HPSI’s components increased monthly, most notably the component associated with consumers’ expectations of mortgage rates. While the component…
The substantial development of new warehouses along our interstates has been hard to miss in the last two years. Newmark has conducted a report that explores factors driving accelerated sector growth and quantifies key metrics for top U.S. cold storage markets experiencing expansion. According to Newmark, national cold storage development hit an all-time high of…