American Dollar to Canadian Dollar = 0.801619; American Dollar to Chinese Yuan = 0.156162; American Dollar to Euro = 1.153148; American Dollar to Japanese Yen = 0.008782; American Dollar to Mexican Peso = 0.048496.

With demand for the fuel accelerating in September after a hurricane knocked out a swath of U.S. refining and fires eliminated processing in Europe’s hub, diesel was credited with underpinning a rally in crude. Brent jumped above $60 a barrel last month and is still on an upward trajectory. But while those refinery issues are normalizing -- and diesel is weakening -- there’s been little let-up in the rally in crude futures. They reached a more than two-year high of $64.65 a barrel on Nov. 7, and remain close to that. “This will counter the recent support to crude,” Alan Gelder, vice-president of refining, chemicals and oil markets at Wood Mackenzie, said of signs the diesel market is weaker than expected. “Particularly if demand growth turns out to be disappointing” given the importance of diesel as a source of consumption during winter months. Click Read More below for additional information.

American Trucking Associations’ advanced seasonally adjusted (SA) For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index increased 2.7% in June after rising 0.3% in May. In June, the index equaled 120.1 (2015=100) versus 116.9 in May. “June’s jump tells me a couple of things: first, the transition in the freight market from spot back to contract continues. ATA’s tonnage index is dominated by contract freight, so while the spot market has slowed as freight softens, contract carriers are backfilling those losses with loads from shippers reducing spot market exposure," said ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello. "Essentially, the market is transitioning back to pre-pandemic shares of contract versus spot market. “Second, and perhaps equally important, while economic growth is expected to be soft overall in the second quarter, the goods-economy wasn’t as bad as feared," he said. May’s increase was revised down from our June 21 press release.