Freight Futures data to watch today: National and Regional Forward Curves
In a virtual repeat of Monday, Trucking Freight Futures ended the day mixed, with a bias lower as five contracts were lower, two contracts higher and four contracts unchanged. For the second consecutive session, the spot National contract (FUT.VNU202001) drifted fractionally lower and settled at $1.453/mile. The same was true for the South regional contract (FUT.VSU202001), which ended the session at $1.219. Both the East regional (FUT.VEU202001) and the West regional (FUT.VWU202001) contracts finished unchanged at $1.621 and $1.520, respectively. So what are Futures saying about rates? Looking at the continuous spot price (FUTC1) for the National Average and Three Regions from late 2019 alongside the respective forward curves (FWD), the market is forecasting a generally weak rate environment into the middle half of 2Q2020.
On the lanes in the East, the CHI to ATL contract (FUT.VCA202001) fell 0.1% to $2.034 while the PHL to CHI (FUT.VPC202001) contract dipped 0.18% to $1.084. These drops were offset by a 0.17% rise in the ATL to PHL contract (FUT.VAP202001) to $1.745. A split personality in the South continues as the LAX to DAL contract (FUT.VLD202001) moved higher by 0.4% and settled at $1.460 while the DAL to LAX contract (FUT.VDL202001) continued its tumble, by falling almost 1%, to $0.978. The lanes in the West remained unchanged with the LAX to SEA contract (FUT.VLS202001) staying at $2.070 and the SEA to LAX contract (FUT.VSL202001) stuck at $0.969.
SONAR Tickers: FUTC1.VNU, FWD.VNU, FUTC1.VEU, FWD.VEU, FUTC1.VWU, FWD.VWU, FUTC1.VSU, FWD.VSU