Key Currency Exchange Rates for Friday, 6/02/23

American Trucking Associations’ advanced seasonally adjusted (SA) For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index increased 1.1% in October after declining 1.1% in September. In October, the index equaled 115.2 (2015=100) compared with 113.9 in September. Compared with October 2022, the SA index fell 2.1%, which was the eighth straight year-over-year decrease. In September, the index was down 4.1% from a year earlier. The not seasonally adjusted index, which represents the change in tonnage actually hauled by the fleets before any seasonal adjustment, equaled 119.7 in October, 6.3% above the September level (112.5). In calculating the index, 100 represents 2015. ATA’s For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index is dominated by contract freight as opposed to spot market freight.

Futures in New York slipped as much as 2.1 percent to the lowest intraday price since March 20. China’s Ministry of Commerce said it would levy 25 percent tariffs on imports of 106 U.S. products including automobiles and aircraft. That wiped out earlier support for prices as Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries output dropped to the lowest in a year in March. “It’s only logical to see profit-taking in light of looming trade tensions and possible financial market turbulence,” said Eugen Weinberg, head of commodities research at Commerzbank AG in Frankfurt. Global equities sank after China unveiled its charges, which match the scale of proposed U.S. tariffs announced earlier this week and ratchets up tension in a brewing trade war between the world’s two largest economies. With products ranging from gas turbines to steel and aluminum affected, the spat threatens to raise costs, slow economic growth and hit oil demand. Click Read More below for additional information.

National Average Price for Regular Unleaded Current: $5.000; Month Ago: $4.523; Year Ago: $3.075. National Average Price for Diesel Current: $5.798; Month Ago: $5.573; Year Ago: $3.219.