Cass Freight Index

Despite sequential gains in shipments and expenditures, the September 2011 edition of the Cass Freight Index points to less than smooth sailing for the economy through the remainder of the year.

In its August report, Cass data indicated that shipments at 1.143 were down 3.7 percent compared to July, with shipments topping the 1.0 mark for the 15th straight month since May 2010, when shipments moved above the 1.0 mark for the first time since November 2008.

Even though freight volumes have somewhat flattened out, the most recent release of the Cass Information Systems Freight Index pointed to economic slowness from June to July.

The June report showed that shipments at 1.165 were 4.9 percent better than May, and shipments were above the 1.0 mark for the 13th straight month going back to May 2010, when it topped 1.0 for the first time since November 2008. On an annual basis, June shipments were up 5.3 percent, which is below the 9.6 percent and 12.3 percent year-over-year gains from May and April, respectively.

In continuing the theme from its previous report, today’s release of the Cass Information Systems Freight Index showed that a moderation in freight volumes is still intact.

While the Cass data showed growth in February and March following three months of decreases, April was relatively flat on a sequential basis. April shipments at 1.113 were up 12.3 percent annually and 0.45 percent compared to March’s 1.108, with shipments above for the 1.0 mark for the 11th straight month going back to May 2010’s 1.014 breaking the 1.0 level for the first time since November 20008.

Coming off of July, which saw its first decrease in five months in conjunction with other indices declining, the Cass Information Systems Freight Index switched back to growth mode in August.