Freight Futures data to watch today: January/February 2020 Spot Contract Roll
Friday marked the last day of trading for the January 2020 Trucking Freight Futures contracts and as such, the February contracts are now the new spot month contracts. This is known as the “Spot Contract Roll”. For the week, the January National contract (FUT.VNU202001) rose a fraction to $1.456 but as the February 2020 contract (FUT.VNU202002) rolls to spot, the market opens $0.043, or 3%, lower at $1.413/mile. The February East regional contract (FUT.VEU202002) begins trading $0.035, or 2.2% discount to January at $1.585 while the February West regional contract (FUT.VWU202002) rolled in $0.075, or 4.9% lower at $1.458. The South regional contract (FUT.VSU202001) finished January under pressure closing down to $1.216, with the February contract (FUT.VSU202002) showing no relief by rolling in at $1.195, $0.021 (1.72%) lower.
For the individual lane contracts, the roll created significant shifts, both positive and negative. Starting in the East, the CHI to ATL contract (FUT.VCA202002) opens $0.062 (3%) lower than January at $1.965, the ATL to PHL contract (FUT.VAP202002) comes in $0.094 (5.4%) lower at $1.656 and the PHL to CHI contract (FUT.VPC202002) bucks the trend by rolling in $0.052 (4.8%) higher at $1.134. A steep drop characterizes the West as the LAX to SEA contract (FUT.VLS202002) begins February $0.121 (5.8%) below January at $1.977, with the SEA to LAX contract (FUT.VSL202002) at a $0.029 (3%) discount at $0.940. The South was mixed with the DAL to LAX contract (FUT.VDL202002) opening the month $0.124 (12.8%) above its beaten down January predecessor at $1.084, while the LAX to DAL contract (FUT.VLD202002) tumbles in $0.165 (11.2%) lower at $1.306.
SONAR Tickers: FUTC1.Vxx, FUTC2.Vxx (xx is the individual lane pair code)