Class 8 tractor market sees September dip

Trucking news and briefs for Thursday, Nov. 24, 2022:

ACT Research reported in its recently released Transportation Digest that its Class 8 Tractor Dashboard slipped in September to a -4 reading, the sixth moderately downbeat reading in seven months.

Despite the drop, the reading is not as far negative as seen in recent downturns.

“We think the Dashboard readings suggest a better outcome for Class 8 than was the case in the last two downturns (COVID 2020 and the popping of the global commodity bubble in late 2014),” said Kenny Vieth, ACT’s President and Senior Analyst. “In those events, the negative readings reached double-digit levels. While we suspect more negative readings are inbound, they are not here yet.”

Vieth added that the trucking stock index fell into negative territory in the most recent reading, but “Class 8 cancellations moved from negative to neutral territory. Of the 15 variables in the Dashboard, three were at ‘positive’ levels, in line with August, while the number in ‘negative’ territory increased from six to seven.”

North Carolina-based Hardy Bros. Trucking transported the U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree from the Pisgah National Forest in North Carolina to Washington, D.C.James Edward MillsThe U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree on Nov. 18 completed its journey from the National Forests in North Carolina to the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol Building.