AAA Daily Fuel Gauge Report for Friday, 11/12/21

American Trucking Associations’ advanced seasonally adjusted For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index increased 4.3% in February after decreasing 3.2% in January. In February, the index equaled 116.0 (2015=100) compared with 111.3 in January. “After a very soft January, due in part to winter storms, truck tonnage snapped back in February,” said ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello. “February’s level was the highest in a year, yet the index still contracted from a year earlier, suggesting truck freight remains in a recession.” January’s decrease was revised up from our February 20 press release. Compared with February 2023, the index fell 1.4%, which was the twelfth straight year-over-year decline. In January, the index was down 4.5% from a year earlier.

“The slow, and choppy, climb off of the bottom continued in October,” said ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello. “Since hitting a low in January of this year, tonnage is up a total of 3%, plus the index is up sequentially in three of the last four months. No doubt the freight market has improved – albeit slowly – over the course of the year.” In October, the ATA advanced seasonally adjusted For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index equaled 114.6 compared with 113.3 in September. The index, which is based on 2015 as 100, equaled the reading from the same month last year. The not seasonally adjusted index, which calculates raw changes in tonnage hauled equaled 121.3 in October, 8.6% above September. The seasonally adjusted increase follows a decline in September, which was revised up slightly from the October 22 press release.

National Average Price for Regular Unleaded Current: $3.518; Month Ago: $3.832; Year Ago: $3.760. National Average Price for Diesel Current: $4.497; Month Ago: $4.569; Year Ago: $5.309.