Key Currency Exchange Rates for Friday, 7/31/20

American Dollar to Canadian Dollar = 0.744548; American Dollar to Chinese Yuan = 0.137023; American Dollar to Euro = 1.064335; American Dollar to Japanese Yen = 0.006745; American Dollar to Mexican Peso = 0.058322.

FreightWaves CEO Craig Fuller calls the truck driver shortage a “myth” in a recent piece of self-promotion, but his assertion collapses under the weight of facts and data. Fuller claims the mythical shortage is an ATA fabrication—a narrative perpetuated for our convenience. Of course, we’re not alone in reporting this issue. Driver shortages are global in scope, with growing vacancies felt across the Americas, Asia, and Europe, and documented in IRU’s 2022 Global Driver Shortage Report: In Europe, driver shortages jumped by 42% from 2020 to 2021, with vacant driver positions reaching 71,000 in Romania, 80,000 in both Poland and Germany, and 100,000 in the UK. In Mexico, shortages rose by 30% to reach 54,000, while in China, they increased by 140%, reaching 1.8 million.

Oil fell in New York after U.S. President Donald Trump criticized OPEC and said crude prices are “artificially Very High.” The comments came as the Organization of Petroleum Exporting countries and allies including Russia showed willingness to further tighten oil markets and boost prices. Oil has rallied in recent weeks as output cuts from OPEC and its allies were compounded by heightened geopolitical risks, including the possibility of renewed U.S. sanctions on Iran. Meeting in Jeddah, a committee of OPEC and other oil producers found high levels of compliance with the production curbs. Still, there’s capacity for prices to rise beyond this week’s three-year high, according to Saudi Energy Minister Khalid Al-Falih, who said cooperation between producers would continue into 2019. Click Read More below for additional information.