Key Currency Exchange Rates for Friday, 4/9/21

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.

National Average Price for Regular – Current: $2.561; Month Ago: $2.485; Year Ago: $2.196. National Average Price for Diesel – Current: $2.818; Month Ago: $2.728; Year Ago: $2.413.

American Trucking Associations’ advanced seasonally adjusted For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index grew 1.8% in August after rising 0.4% in July. In August, the index equaled 115.8 (2015=100) compared with 113.8 in July. “August tonnage levels rose to the highest level since February 2023,” said ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello. “Not only does the latest robust gain show freight levels are coming off the bottom, but so does the sequential pattern over the last eight months. Starting earlier this year, every time tonnage falls, it is higher than the previous low. For me, this month-to-month pattern is more important than looking at the year-over-year percent changes since we are at an inflection point in the freight market.” July’s increase was revised up from our August 20 press release. Compared with August 2023, the index increased 0.7%, just the second year-over-year gain in the last eighteen months (the other being in May 2024).