The American Trucking Association's (ATA) advance seasonally adjusted For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index rose 0.5 percent in October, after rising a revised 1.5 percent in September.
The latest rise indicates the economy is growing, according to the Associations. ATA's tonnage index rose by 2 percent over the last two months to just under the year's high recorded in January.
Analysts watch the trucking index to gauge the performance of the U.S. economy. Some 67.2 percent of all freight in the country is hauled on trucks, ATA said.
U.S. retailers, which stocked up for the holiday season in October in previous years now do so throughout the fall, evening out the former peaks in tonnage transport seen during that month, Bob Costello, ATA's chief economist said
"Consumers are buying later in the season so not all products have to be in the store before Black Friday. We're seeing (the tonnage) get more spread out," Costello added.
ATA expects the growth in the industrial sector to slow next year, with U.S. manufacturing still rising more than the national Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
On a year-to-year basis, tonnage climbed 5.7 percent in October, ATA said. The not-seasonally adjusted index, which represents the change in tonnage actually hauled by the fleets before any seasonal adjustment, fell by 0.8 percent. (Reuters)
