Freight Futures lane to watch today: LAX to SEA and LAX to DAL lanes
The spot month National contract (FUT.VNU201909) finished the day unchanged at $1.478 per mile. Both the West (FUT.VWU201909) and South (FUT.VSU201909) regional contracts were lower by around 0.15%, to $1.489 and $1.225, respectively. The East region (FUT.VEU201909) was up nearly 0.2% to $1.719, driven by lingering uncertainty on the impact of Dorian as it moves into the Carolinas. All three September contracts in the East settled higher, although during the trading session, the CHI to ATL contract (FUT.VCA201909) was being offered at more than $0.06 below Wednesday’s settlement. The ATL to PHI contract (FUT.VAP201909) was being offered at around $0.035 below Wednesday’s settlement at times during yesterday’s trading session.
Watching the lanes with open interest, market sentiment in both the LAX to SEA (VLS) and the LAX to DAL (VLD) lanes has shifted lower since the middle of August. In the VLS lane, there is 5,000 miles of open interest in each of the October, November and December contracts and in the VLD lane, there is 25,000 miles in both the October and November contracts. Market sentiment in the VLS lane is lower by about $0.07 per mile while the VLD lane is lower by about $0.10 per mile.
