The Cass Freight Index booked 7% sequential gains in shipments and expenditures during September.
Shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services move 9% lower after the company fails to meet recently raised analyst expectations. Intermodal service headwinds and elevated costs were the culprits.
Tightening truckload and intermodal markets have carriers expecting the hot freight market to carry forward. One carrier is calling for large rate increases in 2021.
J.B. Hunt easily bests consensus forecasts led by better-than-expected intermodal and dedicated results. The back half of 2020 remains hazy on COVID-19 fears.
Hub Group’s first quarter miss included several one-off expenses unlikely to recur. However, volume headwinds are expected to persist in the near-term.
Declines in Cass data accelerate but report calls for rates to inflect higher in 2020.
The Cass Freight Index sees its steepest decline in shipments since the Great Recession.
Hub Group believes “soft” intermodal volumes will begin to flatten out and that the 2019 peak shipping season will be similar to that of 2017.
Hub Group sees record earnings despite a “softening demand environment” and “increased truckload and intermodal competition.”
