Freight Futures lane to watch today: Philadelphia to Chicago (VPC)
The Trucking Freight Futures Markets remained volatile on Friday after the expiration of the October spot contracts on Thursday. This period of volatility will be watched to see if it is a pattern that will be short-lived. The November spot National contract (FUT.VNU201911) dropped nearly $0.01 to settle at $1.495 per mile. Both the West regional (FUT.VWU201911) and South regional (FUT.VSU201911) contracts fell, losing $0.027 and $0.024 or 1.6% and 1.7%, respectively. The East regional contract (FUT.VEU201911) gained $0.022 or 1.5% to finish at $1.469, driven almost entirely by a $0.068 or 7.9% jump in the PHI to CHI contract (FUT.VPC201911) which ended Friday at $0.930. The entire forward curve for VPC shifted significantly higher as well.
The lanes in the West and South gave back some of the gains realized as a result of Thursday’s contract roll. In the West, the November LAX to SEA contract (FUT.VLS201911) shed 1.35% or $0.029 and closed at $2.119 while the SEA to LAX contract (FUT.VSL201911) dropped 2% or $0.024, to end at $1.166. The LAX to DAL contract (FUT.VLD201911), in the South, fell $0.035 or 1.94% to close at $1.770, and the DAL to LAX contract (FUT.VDL201911) was down $0.011 or 1.1% and settled at $0.977. With the October spot contract expiration, total open interest dipped from 66,000 miles to 35,000 miles.
