Key Currency Exchange Rates for Friday, 1/5/18

American Trucking Associations’ advanced seasonally adjusted (SA) For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index decreased 2% in April after rising 1.8% in March. In April, the index equaled 115.8 (2015=100) versus 118.2 in March. “After eight straight gains totaling 6.9%, for-hire tonnage finally slid back in April. Despite being the largest sequential drop since August 2020, the index was still above where it started in 2022 and a year earlier,” said ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello. “It is important to note that ATA’s for-hire tonnage data is dominated by contract freight with minimal amounts of spot market loads. The spot market has softened more than for-hire contract freight, as the market transitions back to pre-pandemic shares of contract versus spot market," Costello said.

Oil is struggling to regain the highs of January after a sell-off in global equities seeped into crude markets earlier this month. Surging U.S. production continues to challenge efforts by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its friends to alleviate a global oversupply, with forecasts pointing to record output from the Permian shale basin. “Prices are vulnerable to the downside over the coming months,” said Giovanni Staunovo, an analyst at UBS Group AG in Zurich. “Though the market likes OPEC and its allies’ show of unity, we still need to see how U.S. shale companies will react on higher prices and eventually offset all the efforts of OPEC and others to reduce inventories.” The increase in U.S. production is not “a blip,” Brouillette said. “We are optimistic about 2019 and 2020 too.” Click Read More below for additional information.

National Average Price for Regular Unleaded Current: $3.162; Month Ago: $3.078; Year Ago: $3.674. National Average Price for Diesel Current: $3.578; Month Ago: $3.601; Year Ago: $4.055.