Cass Freight Index

Numbers issued in the most recent edition of the Cass Freight Index Report from Cass Information Systems appear to be in lockstep with signs and themes related to an economic slowdown in the United States.

Freight transportation shipments and expenditures finished the first quarter in declining fashion, according to the most recent edition of the Cass Freight Index Report from Cass Information Systems.

Freight shipments and expenditures in February shot up from January to February while showing sequential declines, according to the most recent edition of the Cass Freight Index Report from Cass Information Systems.

On the freight shipments side, Cass reported that January shipments––at 1.025––trailed December by 1.3 percent and January 2016 by 0.2 percent. These declines were less than the 4.9 percent drop from November to December, though, and January shipments still topped the 1.0 mark for the 65th straight month in December.

Declines for both shipments and freight transportation expenditures continued to end 2015, according to the December edition of the Cass Freight Index Report from Cass Information Systems. While declines for both categories in December are commonplace in December, the report pointed out that December’s output marked the second straight quarter in which both shipments and expenditures dropped.

The numbers don’t tell the full story in the November edition of the Cass Freight Index Report from Cass Information Systems.

Continuing a pattern of stops and starts in the freight transportation market, October marked the third straight month of both annual and sequential declines for shipments and expenditures, according to the most recent edition of the Cass Freight Index Report from Cass Information Systems.

August followed a similar pattern laid out in July in the most recent edition of the Cass Freight Index Report from Cass Information Systems, with declines for both freight shipments and expenditures.

July lived up to its reputation as a slow month for freight activity, based on the results of the most recent edition of the Cass Freight Index Report from Cass Information Systems.

June freight shipments—at 1.160—picked up where May left off in posting its highest level of the year, topping May by 0.2 percent and down 3.4 percent compared to June 2014. This gain comes at a time when the economy shows signs of “weakening,” according to the report.

In picking up where April left off, the May edition of the Cass Freight Index Report from Cass Information Systems included the best results of the report on a year-to-date basis.

Annual declines and sequential gains for freight shipments and expenditures for the month of April were the main themes of the most recent edition of the Cass Freight Index Report from Cass Information Systems released this week.

Even with the myriad challenges that stemmed from the West Coast port labor disruption, the most recent edition of the Cass Freight Index Report from Cass Information Systems found that both freight shipments and expenditures both showed annual and sequential growth in February.

Even with nearly matching declines in freight shipments and expenditures in December, the most recent edition of the Cass Freight Index report from Cass Information Systems indicated that 2014 ended up as the best year in freight transportation and logistics over the last seven years.

Slight sequential decreases and decent annual increases were evident in the November edition of the Cass Freight Index report from Cass Information Systems r