Freight Futures market to watch today: National Average
The Trucking Freight Futures markets appear to have found their footing and could be settling into a phase of mild volatility as they digest the macroeconomic effects of the recent supply chain disruptions and their implications to spot freight rates going forward (FUTC1.VNU, FWD.VNU). The spot National contract (FUT.VNU202003) closed fractionally higher on Thursday to $1.384/mile and was nudged up by the West regional (FUT.VWU202003) and South regional (FUT.VSU202003) contracts, which rose 0.21% and 0.25% to $1.420 and $1.208, respectively. They offset a 0.13% decline in the East regional contract (FUT.VEU202003), which was down to $1.525.
Pulling the East lower were the CHI to ATL contract (FUT.VCA202003), which fell 0.3% to $1.763 and the ATL to PHL contract (FUT.VAP202003), which slid 0.17% to settle at $1.802. The PHL to CHI contract (FUT.VPC202003) finished the day unchanged at $1.010. It was a positive day for each of the lane pairs in the West and South. In the West, the LAX to SEA contract (FUT.VLS202003) rose a fraction to $1.945 while the SEA to LAX contract (FUT.VSL202003) inched higher by 0.2% to $0.894. In the South, the LAX to DAL contract (FUT.VLD202003) rose to $1.359, experiencing a modest 0.44% bump for the day, while the DAL to LAX contract (FUT.VDL202003) eked out a 0.1% gain to $1.057.
