This morning President Trump signed an executive order withdrawing the United States from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). Although the TPP had been negotiated under President Obama, Congress had not ratified it. This trade deal would have included 11 Pacific Rim countries that according to the World Bank make up 40% of global GDP and 20% of global trade.
News
As is often true of a change in trend, it is neither smooth nor linear. The October Cass Freight Shipments Index was up 2.7%, breaking a string of 20 months in negative territory, then November fell back into negative territory, albeit ever so slightly (down 0.5%). Now December—coming in up 3.5%—suggests that the October data was not a false positive but instead the beginning of a more positive trend. We have seen a wide range of results in the different modes, from continued volume growth in parcel and airfreight driven by e-commerce; to a sequential improvement in truck tonnage; to less bad rail and barge volume overall. Data is beginning to suggest that the consumer is finally starting to spend a little and that with the recent surge in the price of crude, the industrial economy’s rate of deceleration has eased. If the winter of the overall freight recession we’ve been in for more than a year and a half in the U.S. is not yet over, it is certainly showing promising signs of thawing.
In the start of the new year, a lot has happened with MIQ Logistics and in the global logistics industry as a whole. The January 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: Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Sales: The combined value of distributive trade sales and manufacturers’ shipments for November, adjusted for seasonal and trading-day differences but not for price changes, was estimated at $1,326.7 billion, up 0.1 percent (±0.2 percent)* from October 2016 and was up 2.3 percent (±0.4 percent) from November 2015.
Source: Logistics Management
An atypical late in the year holiday season bump was evident, based on data issued this week in the most recent edition of the Port Tracker report issued by the National Retail Federation (NRF) and maritime consultancy Hackett Associates.
Source: The Conference Board
“Consumer Confidence improved further in December, due solely to increasing Expectations which hit a 13-year high (Dec. 2003, 107.4),” said Lynn Franco, Director of Economic Indicators at The Conference Board. “The post-election surge in optimism for the economy, jobs and income prospects, as well as for stock prices which reached a 13-year high, was most pronounced among older consumers. Consumers’ assessment of current conditions, which declined, still suggests that economic growth continued through the final months of 2016. Looking ahead to 2017, consumers’ continued optimism will depend on whether or not their expectations are realized.”
OVERLAND PARK, Kan., January 9, 2017 – MIQ Logistics is pleased to announce the opening of a newly constructed global logistics facility in Houston, located at 8575 Volta Dr, Humble, TX 77338. The new facility is 56,404 square feet, featuring a value-added warehouse, one acre secured storage yard, and 3,500 square feet bonded cage. The facility also includes an area for crating and packing and office space for the local MIQ import, export, and project logistics professionals.
Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 156,000 in December, and the unemployment rate was little changed at 4.7 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Job growth occurred in health care and social assistance.
A Tax on Imports?
Yes, this is under serious consideration. President-Elect Trump has complained repeatedly about the unfair advantage enjoyed by nearly all of America’s trading partners, almost all of whom employ consumption-based value-added taxes (VAT) as a revenue source. The “unfair” advantage results from zero-rating exports and fully taxing imports. Because the US derives revenues primarily from income taxes, WTO rules make it difficult to implement a similar “border adjustment”
Source: Institute for Supply Management
Economic activity in the manufacturing sector expanded in December, and the overall economy grew for the 91st consecutive month, say the nation’s supply executives in the latest Manufacturing ISM® Report On Business®.
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