The Wheels Just Fell Off: US Trucking Has Not Been This Bad Since The Financial Crisis

• The Wheels Just Fell Off: US Trucking Has Not Been This Bad Since The Financial Crisis
  by Tyler Durden, www.zerohedge.com
  Earlier this month, we profiled yet another casualty of slumping trade, falling commodity prices, and mediocre, double-adjusted economic “growth”: trucking.
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  More specifically, we highlighted the dramatic November decline in Class 5-8 orders. The numbers for Class 8 – those trucks with a gross weight over 33K pounds and which, you’re reminded, make up the backbone of U.S. trade infrastructure and logistics – were a veritable disaster.
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  “Class 8 orders of 16,600 were below our channel check based 22,000-25,000 expectation, dropped 59% yr/yr and 36% from October (vs. the ten-year average 7% decrease in November from October), and was the weakest order month on a seasonally adjusted basis since August 2010,” Wells Fargo exclaimed, before adding that “clearly, November Class 8 orders slowed to weak levels and were beneath expectations.”
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  In short: this is the worst things have been since the crisis.
  Importantly, note that the malaise is widespread.That is, you’re seeing the same picture in flatbed, refrigerated, and dry van, which would certainly seem to indicate that demand for everything from foodstuffs, to building materials, to merchandise is simply collapsing. Here’s a look at survey respondents’ appraisal of the current situation and their outlook for demand going forward:
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  read more.

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