[Excerpt from The Pickett Line September 2021 Issue] Welcome to the September issue of The Pickett Line, where it’s been all about Ida this month as we prepare to wrap up Q3 and dig in for what is expected to be one of the more interesting fourth quarters in recent history given the broad range …
[Excerpt from The Pickett Line August 2021 Issue] As many of you may recall, the theme of last month’s issue was ‘Back on Track’. With Q2’s Uri-driven kink finally behind us, July data through the 25th pointed to a Q3 read that implied that the TL Spot Market Rate Cycle had returned to a trajectory …
[Excerpt from The Pickett Line July 2021 Issue] If the first 25 days of July are representative of the Q3 ahead of us, we are back on track – at least from a US TL Rate Cycle standpoint. After suffering the most extreme inflationary kink observed last quarter in fifteen years of tracking the US …
[Excerpt from The Pickett Line June 2021 Issue] Well, the jury is back and the verdict is in. You may recall that the theme of last month’s The Pickett Line was “In the case of ‘To Peak or not to Peak?’, the jury’s still out.” Halfway through the most extreme cycle kink observed in15 years …
Well, the jury is back. And the verdict is “Peak”. Read More »
[Excerpt from The Pickett Line May 2021 Issue] After a series of volatile freight months characterized by market shocks and sometimes violent swings in relative capacity levels and rates, the last few weeks of April and into May have been relatively tame in comparison – despite CVSA Roadcheck May 4th-6th, the Mother’s Day flower surge, …
In the case of “To Peak or not to Peak?”, the jury’s still out. Read More »
[Excerpt from The Pickett Line April 2021 Issue] Welcome to Q2 2021, where just about every market and economic data point will look outrageously positive when compared to last year’s Q2 COVID crash. With another month now behind us and as we enter the 2nd quarter of what we have often characterized as the great …
[Excerpt from The Pickett Line March 2021 Issue] Exactly one month ago today and at the midpoint of the quarter, our Q1 DAT TL Spot Index had faded lower to +31.5% Y/Y vs. the January read of +38.3% – and sat well below the current cycle’s Q4 2020 high water mark of +40.2% Y/Y. And …
[Excerpt from The Pickett Line February 2021 Issue] As we cross the halfway mark of the quarter, the case for Q4 2020 representing this cycle’s inflationary inflection point has only strengthened. If the US TL spot market cycle were a literal roller coaster, this would be the time in the ride where, after a rickety …
[Excerpt from The Pickett Line January 2021 Issue] Happy New Year. And what a start to the new year it has been. As we closed out an extraordinarily difficult and painful 2020, uncertainty around the scale of global vaccine distribution programs, the scope of additional fiscal stimulus, and the ultimate shape of the economic recovery in …
Fasten your seatbelts. It’s gonna be a bumpy ride. Read More »
To quote Sir John Templeton, “The four most dangerous words in investing are: this time it’s different.” The same can be said about the US Truckload Freight Market. To say that 2020 has been a year defined by volatility, uncertainty, and hardship is of course a colossal understatement. Now as we find ourselves in the …