Trucking Tonnage Falls in June But Remains 7.6% Above June Last Year

ARLINGTON, VA -- "The American Trucking Associations’ advance seasonally adjusted (SA) For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index decreased 1.4 percent in June, although May’s reduction was revised from 0.6 percent to just 0.1 percent. May and June marked the first back-to-back contractions since March and April 2009. The latest reduction lowered the SA index from 110.1 (2000=100) in May to 108.5 in June (see chart above)."

On a 12-month basis, trucking activity looks a little better: 
"Compared with June 2009, SA tonnage climbed 7.6 percent, which was just below May’s 7.7 percent increase and the seventh consecutive year-over-year gain. Year-to-date, tonnage is up 6.6 percent compared with the same period in 2009."

MP: There have been some signs of a slowdown in the strength of the economic expansion in May and June (including the Richmond and Chicago Fed releases today on manufacturing activity in those regions), and the trucking tonnage index decrease in June probably helps to confirm that.  But we should also keep in mind that manufacturing has been leading the economic recovery, and some uneven "starts and stops" in the economic recovery are to be expected.