Cass Freight Index Reaches Two-Year High

From the Journal of Commerce:

"The Cass Freight Index for U.S. shipping reached its highest point in more than two years in September, growing 1.9 percent over the month before, Cass Information Systems announced last Friday.  The shipments index (blue line in the graph above) grew for the second straight time on a month-to-month basis, although the 1.9 percent gain was a sharp slowdown from the 8.3 percent gain the month before. The index increased 15.5 percent over September 2009 after growing 16.5 percent year-over-year in August.

That put the shipments index, which reflects industrial freight shipments moving through U.S. distribution networks, at 1.116, the highest point since August 2008, just before the crash in financial markets sent trade into a tailspin.

The separate Cass expenditures index (red line above), a measure showing how much shippers are spending to transport goods, also reached its highest point in more than two years. The 30.5 percent year-over-year expansion pushed the expenditures index to its highest point since June 2008.  The spending index grew 3 percent in September compared to August, a slowdown from the previous month's 7.6 percent month-to-month expansion."

Here's some information about the Freight Indexes from Cass Information Systems:
 
"We have developed a monthly Volume Index of Freight Expenditures and Shipments that is based upon transportation dollars and shipments of Cass clients. The index is comprised of shippers throughout the United States who participate in the Cass Information Systems Payment Service. Over 1,200 divisions of 400 unique companies representing a broad spectrum of the SIC categories contribute data to the index.
 
Freight expenses, for the index base, consist of participating shippers with volumes ranging from $50,000 to over $500,000,000 annually. This diversity of shippers and range of volume provides a statistically valid cross-sampling of industries in the United States. The Index's purpose is to compare levels of shipment activity on a month to month basis."
 
Related: See Scott Grannis' shipping update today.