Key Currency Exchange Rates for Friday, 7/26/24

The first ever coupon is believed to have been distributed in 1888 by Coca-Cola — a ticket for a “free cup of Coke” to help promote the drink. It's estimated that by 1913, one in nine Americans had redeemed at least one of the 8.5 million tickets distributed through mail, magazine inserts, sales representatives and company employees. Historically, coupons were viewed simply as a mass promotion vehicle to drive more sales of a particular product. In the digital age, customer information provides retailers the opportunity to join forces with suppliers to personalize and optimize coupon distribution in a way that serves a multitude of objectives. For example, personalized coupons can support introduction to categories and products, retention of customer revenue, cross-sell strategies, improvement of brand and private-label recognition, and more.

American Trucking Associations’ advanced seasonally adjusted (SA) For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index rose 0.7% in January after increasing 1% in December. In January, the index equaled 117.1 (2015=100) compared with 116.2 in December. ATA recently revised the seasonally adjusted index back five years as part of its annual revision. “Tonnage has increased nicely in the last couple of months,” said ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello. “I suspect that some of the gain is attributable to capacity coming out of the network, especially those carriers that primarily operate in the spot market and/or bought expensive used equipment in the last couple of years. This would push more freight to contract carriers, which dominate this index. "It could also be that freight bottomed and is coming up a little too. So, the gain is likely a little higher demand and a little less supply. Despite the increases in December and January, tonnage is still off 1.4% from its recent high in September," Costello said.

Futures gained 1 percent in New York after rising 1.6 percent the previous two sessions. The IEA boosted its forecast on stronger-than-expected consumption in Europe and the U.S., and said that inventories of refined products are subsiding to their five-year average. A six-month extension to supply curbs from the end of March is one of the options being considered by OPEC and its allies, according to a person familiar with the matter. Oil in New York has averaged about $49 a barrel this year as efforts to drain a global glut by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and partners including Russia are stifled by rising shale output. U.S. crude inventories expanded by 6.18 million barrels last week, according to industry data, as oil processors gradually restarted following Harvey. Click Read More below for more of the story.