Key Currency Exchange Rates for Friday, 9/4/20

American Trucking Associations’ advanced seasonally adjusted (SA) For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index increased 0.4% in October after rising 2.2% in September. In October, the index equaled 113 (2015=100) compared with 112.6 in September. “October’s gain was the third straight totaling 2.9%,” said ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello. “The combination of solid retail sales, inventory rebuilding, and generally higher factory output offset some areas of softer freight growth, like home construction, in October. “Economic growth remains on solid footing, which is good for truck freight volumes going forward. The largest problem for the industry isn’t the amount of demand, but making sure we have adequate supply. It is good to see that fleets were able to haul more tonnage in recent months in the face of constrained supply,” he said. September’s reading was revised down slightly to 2.2% from our October 19 press release.

American Dollar to Canadian Dollar = 0.736390; American Dollar to Chinese Yuan = 0.140082; American Dollar to Euro = 1.077834; American Dollar to Japanese Yen = 0.006924; American Dollar to Mexican Peso = 0.057349.

Futures advanced 0.3 percent after climbing 0.8 percent Wednesday. Output slid for the second time in three weeks, according to Energy Information Administration data, while stockpiles dropped by 6.45 million barrels, almost triple the median forecast in a Bloomberg survey. Gasoline inventories unexpectedly rose for the first time since early June. Oil has fluctuated below $50 a barrel for more than a week as investors weigh rising global supply against output cuts by members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies including Russia. While U.S. crude stockpiles have declined during a period of strong seasonal demand, they remain almost 90 million barrels above the five-year average. Click Read More below for additional detail.