By Claire Jiao (Bloomberg) — Asia could see slower economic growth and a resurgence of inflation as escalating violence in the Red Sea snarls shipping between the region and their trade…
https://gcaptain.com/red-sea-crisis-could-fan-asias-inflation-anew-delay-rate-cuts/
By Lisa Baertlein Feb 22 (Reuters) – Attacks on merchant vessels in the Red Sea have delayed cargo and sent shipping costs higher, but soft demand and ample ship availability are muting the impact…
https://gcaptain.com/red-sea-diversions-not-driving-inflation-higher-moodys-says/
By Tony Czuczka Jan 28, 2024 (Bloomberg) –President Joe Biden’s energy security adviser said the impact of Houthi rebel attacks on commercial ships in the Red Sea is limited and pledged…
https://gcaptain.com/biden-adviser-sees-limited-inflation-impact-from-red-sea-attacks/
By Randy Thanthong-Knight and Robert Tuttle (Bloomberg) –A strike at Pacific coast ports threatens to disrupt millions of dollars of trade and add inflationary pressures to the Canadian economy. The International…
https://gcaptain.com/dockworker-strike-at-canadas-biggest-ports-to-fuel-inflation/
Chart of the Week: Producer Price Index – all commodities, Consumer Price Index – all, Outbound Tender Volume Index – USA SONAR: PPI.ALLCOM, CPI.ALL, OTVI.USA
The Producer Price Index (PPI), which measures the input costs for goods, has fallen 8% since last summer. The Consumer Price Index (CPI), which measures what consumers pay for goods and services, has kept increasing. Companies are still trying to get their margins back to pre-pandemic levels with price increases on finished goods. This...
Cargo-focused Air Transport Services Group blamed disappointing first-quarter results on slower business at its charter passenger airline Omni Air and warned that persistent inflation, which is driving up costs for maintenance and travel for flight crews shuttling between assignments, would dampen expected profits for the year.
On the positive side, utilization of the cargo fleet actually increased and leasing demand remains high for aircraft scheduled for freighter conversions despite weak...
https://www.freightwaves.com/news/wall-street-sours-on-atsg-freighter-spend-during-cargo-slowdown
The Volvo Group surprised the markets with a very strong first-quarter preliminary earnings preview — the opposite of a dour prediction just months ago.
Sales amounted to 131.4 billion Swedish crowns ($12.6 billion) compared to SEK 105.3 billion ($10.1 billion) in the same period of 2022.
Adjusted operating income was SEK 18.4 billion ($1.78 billion) versus SEK 12.7 billion a year earlier. Adjusted operating margin was 14% compared to 12%a year ago.
Reported operating income of SEK 17.1 billion...
https://www.freightwaves.com/news/volvo-preliminary-q1-financials-surprise-delight-market
Walmart on Thursday announced layoffs affecting approximately 200 employees in its Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, fulfillment center. Earlier in the week, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy announced that the e-commerce giant would cut 9,000 jobs, the latest in a string of layoffs.
Something’s happening in e-commerce, but it’s difficult to disentangle all of the data: Census Bureau numbers on seasonally unadjusted e-commerce retail sales were up 6% year over year (y/y), but they’re only current as of the fourth...
https://www.freightwaves.com/news/is-inflation-crushing-e-commerce-volume-growth
By Josh Saul, Will Mathis and Rachel Morison (Bloomberg) — Off the coast of New England, winds whip over the frigid Atlantic Ocean creating perfect conditions for giant offshore turbines. While…
https://gcaptain.com/offshore-wind-farms-fall-victim-to-global-inflation-fight/
Back in January 2022, when the world was in the throes of a supply chain crisis, economists at the New York Federal Reserve unveiled a new barometer to measure the inflation fallout, called the Global Supply Chain Pressure Index (GSCPI).
The GSCPI, designed to “capture supply chain disruptions using a range of indicators,” measures standard deviations from the historical mean. It peaked at 4.31 standard deviations in December 2021. In trading parlance, that’s a four-sigma or once-in-a-century...
https://www.freightwaves.com/news/federal-reserve-supply-chain-pressure-gauge-just-went-negative