Cass Information Systems

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.

As mounting evidence indicates that slow economic growth is prevalent, retail sales numbers released today were essentially flat in May compared to April and were up on an annual basis, according to data from the United States Department of Commerce and the National Retail Federation (NRF).

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.

Shipments and expenditures are both down, and other freight indices are showing some recent slippage.