Freight Futures market to watch today: East Region and Contracts
The Trucking Freight Futures markets opened the week in limbo, as fears of the coronavirus have participants on the sidelines watching and wondering where rates will go. The spot National contract (FUT.VNU202002) finished Monday unchanged at $1.393/mile. This is the fourth consecutive session that the spot contract has closed unchanged and it sits only slightly higher than the first spot contract trade at $1.34/mile, back on March 29, 2019. Also ending unchanged for the day were both the West regional contract (FUT.VWU202002) and the South regional contract (FUT.VSU202002), which finished at $1.431 and $1.188, respectively. Showing a bit of life was the East regional contract (FUT.VEU202002, FUTC1.VEU), which inched up a fraction to $1.560.
Nudging the East higher was the ATL to PHL contract (FUT.VAP202002, FUTC1.VAP), which eked out a 0.12% gain to $1.664. Both the CHI to ATL contract (FUT.VCA202002, FUTC1.VCA) and PHL to CHI contract (FUT.VPC202002, FUTC1.VPC) stood their ground at $1.911 and $1.105, respectively. Even a look at the forward curves (FWD) for the East yields little consensus on what may happen to rates. In the West, both lane contracts settled as they opened. The LAX to SEA contract (FUT.VLS202002) remained at $1.950 as did the SEA to LAX contract (FUT.VSL202002) at $0.913. The same was true in the South, where the LAX to DAL contract (FUT.VLD202002) stood pat at $1.316 and the DAL to LAX contract (FUT.VDL202002) held steady at $1.060.
SONAR Tickers: FUTC1.VEU, FWD.VEU, FUTC1.VCA, FWD.VCA, FUTC1.VAP, FWD.VAP, FUTC1.VPC, FWD.VPC