Sales
The combined value of distributive trade sales and manufacturers’ shipments for February, adjusted for seasonal and trading-day differences but not for price changes, was estimated at $1,360.7 billion, up 0.2 percent (±0.2 percent)* from January 2017 and was up 7.1 percent (±0.4 percent) from February 2016.
News
Forbes Insights interviewed MIQ Logistics CFO, Brenda Stasiulis, and other CFOs and CEOs to gain insight on the future of auditing quality, overall value, and how the “explosion” of data and new technologies were changing the profession. The report analyzes areas in which audit needs to evolve and what auditors need to do to keep pace with the changing expectations of clients. To download a pdf of the full study, go to Forbesinsights.com.
Source: National Retail Federation
Imports at the nation’s major retail container ports should continue to see strong increases throughout the spring and summer as the nation’s economy improves, according to the monthly Global Port Tracker report released today by the National Retail Federation and Hackett Associates.
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics
The unemployment rate declined to 4.5 percent in March, and total nonfarm payroll employment edged up by 98,000, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Employment increased in professional and business services and in mining, while retail trade lost jobs.
During March 2017, a lot has happened in the global logistics industry and with MIQ Logistics. The March 2017 Logistics Link from MIQ Logistics gives insights into MIQ in the News, industry updates, services provided by MIQ, and events that will be occurring in the near future.
Source: Institute for Supply Management.
Economic activity in the manufacturing sector expanded in March, and the overall economy grew for the 94th consecutive month, say the nation’s supply executives in the latest Manufacturing ISM® Report On Business®.
A TRANS-PACIFIC PARTNERSHIP (TPP) WITHOUT THE U.S.?
The President signed an order on January 23, 2017 withdrawing the United States from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). Because the original TPP deal required the ratification of TPP members comprising at least 85 percent of the GDP of the entire TPP grouping, without the U.S., a new version of the TPP agreement would be needed for it to take effect. However, a TPP agreement without the U.S. is still relevant and would have significant economic value. The remaining Parties include four of the world’s 20 largest economies — Japan, Canada, Australia, and Mexico — alongside significant emerging economies like Vietnam and Malaysia. With that economic value in mind, the 11 existing TPP members, joined by China and South Korea, met in Chile on March 14-15 to discuss: (a) the possibility of a TPP agreement without the U.S., (b) the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) as the TPP alternative and, (c) the Free Trade Area for the Asia-Pacific (FTAAP).
On March 1, 2017, the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) released The President’s 2017 Trade Policy Agenda.
As detailed in the Agenda, the Administration believes that the United States will be best served by focusing on bilateral negotiations rather than multilateral negotiations – and by renegotiating and revising trade agreements when US goals are not being met. The Administration rejects the argument that the United States should, for an purported geopolitical advantage, ignore unfair trade practices that disadvantage American workers, farmers, ranchers, and businesses in global markets.
UK Prime Minister Theresa May invoked Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty on March 29. This gives the UK and the European Union (EU) two years to agree the terms of the UK’s exit from the EU. EU member states will meet to discuss Brexit on 29 April, a month after the UK triggers Article 50. The purpose of the meeting is to provide the guidelines for the EU’s negotiating team headed by Michel Barnier, the French politician serving as the EU Chief Negotiator for Brexit since December 2016. The scheduled elections in France, Germany and Italy add a layer of complexity that may make consensus on these guidelines difficult to achieve.
Source: American Trucking Associations
American Trucking Associations’ advanced seasonally adjusted (SA) For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index slipped 0.1% in February, following a 2.9% increase during January. (January’s index was unchanged from our press release on February 21, 2017.) In February, the index equaled 138.7 (2000=100), down from 138.9 in January. The all-time high was 142.7 in February 2016.
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