Reefer rejection rates tumbled once again over the past week, and the national reefer rejection average is now below 40% for the first time since the second week of September.
Economic stats: Momentum and absolute level neutral
Several economic releases this week are worth noting.
Weekly jobless claims were released Thursday and give us one of the best close-to-real-time indicators of the overall economy. This week, the data was again very promising as the labor market continues on a steady and uneven recovery path.
Initial jobless claims last week fell to another pandemic low of 406,000, from 444,000 the prior week, the Labor Department said Thursday. This is the fourth consecutive week that claims have reached new pandemic lows.
Though job openings are at a record 8.1 million and nearly 10 million people are officially unemployed, companies are scrambling for labor. Layoffs are at all-time lows. While the jobs market still has a long way to go before it fully heals from the pandemic damage, companies are holding onto their workers amid a growing labor shortage that helped curb job growth in April.
Tender rejections down for first time in weeks is this progress? 6 minutes read
Last week’s DHL Supply Chain Pricing Power Index:
The
FreightWaves
The Pricing Power Index is based on the following indicators:
Load volumes: Absolute levels positive for carriers, momentum neutral
The Outbound Tender Volume Index (OTVI) on a national level has shown very little volatility over the past three weeks, walking along the x-axis at ~15,300. At the same time, tender rejections have taken a meaningful leg down, suggesting that freight demand is even stronger now than at the beginning of April.
Geographically, over the past week southern port cities have seen growth in outbound tenders. This trend should continue at most ports around the country over the next several months. As FreightWaves’ Greg Miller wrote Monday, maritime operators and importers are bracing for a shipping tsunami. Nerijus Poskus, vice president of global ocean at freight forwarder Flexport, warned the situ
Stimulus round 3 provides huge boost to consumer economy — freight volumes are next freightwaves.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from freightwaves.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Increasingly difficult yearly comps are a distraction; the market is rolling 561 7 minutes read
Last week’s DHL Supply Chain Pricing Power Index:
The
FreightWaves
The Pricing Power Index is based on the following indicators:
Load volumes: Absolute levels positive for carriers, momentum neutral
The freight markets have reentered “chaos is business as usual” territory. There has been very little change to any of the major indices this week as the Outbound Tender Volume and Reject Indices have both walked along the x-axis for two weeks now. Since the winter blizzard disruption, tender volumes took a leg up and have remained elevated since. We seem to be near the natural peak in tender volumes (and rejections), but the spring freight season is upon us.