Key Currency Exchange Rates for Friday, 7/19/24

American Trucking Associations’ advanced seasonally adjusted (SA) For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index increased 2.4% in March after rising 0.7% in February. In March, the index equaled 118.8 (2015=100) versus 116.1 in February. “It is important to note that ATA’s for-hire tonnage data is dominated by contract freight with minimal amounts of spot market loads,” said ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello. “And clearly contract freight was solid in March, witnessing the largest sequential gain since May 2020. March was also the eighth straight month-to-month improvement, with a total increase of 7.4% over that period. “During the first quarter, the index rose 2.4% from the final quarter of 2021 and increased 2.6% from a year earlier. While there might be some recent softness in the spot market, for-hire contract freight tonnage remains solid and is only limited by lack of capacity—both drivers and equipment—at contract fleets.”

American Dollar to Canadian Dollar = 0.778025; American Dollar to Chinese Yuan = 0.148415; American Dollar to Euro = 1.019709; American Dollar to Japanese Yen = 0.007476; American Dollar to Mexican Peso = 0.049361.

American Trucking Associations’ advanced seasonally adjusted For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index increased 0.3% in July after declining 1.8% in June. In July, the index equaled 113.7 (2015=100) compared with 113.3 in June. “While July wasn’t a strong month, we see continued evidence that the truck freight market is likely turning a corner, albeit slowly,” said ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello. “Some of July’s small gain was likely due to strong import activity, especially at West Coast seaports. Decent retail sales and factory output growing slightly from a year earlier also helped truck tonnage last month.” June’s decrease was revised down from our July 23 press release. Compared with July 2023, the index decreased 0.9%. In June, the index was down 0.6% from a year earlier.