According to ACT Research’s recently released Transportation Digest, the top line on the Class 8 Tractor Dashboard was unchanged in June, the fourth month of moderately downbeat readings.
“Our interpretation is a gradual erosion for Class 8 market demand in the second half, but no ‘spiral down’ and certainly not a ‘cliff event’,” said Kenny Vieth, ACT’s President and Senior Analyst. He continued, “With talk of recession in the air, we think the Dashboard reading, while negative, still suggests a better outcome for Class 8 than was the case in our last two recessions (COVID 2020 and the 2008-2009 Great Recession).”
The report, which combines proprietary ACT data and analysis from a wide variety of sources, paints a comprehensive picture of trends impacting transportation and commercial vehicle markets. This monthly report is designed as a quick look at transportation insights for use by fleet and trucking executives, reviewing top-level considerations such as for-hire indices, freight, heavy and medium duty segments, the US trailer market, used truck sales information, and an overview of the US macro economy.
When asked about the take-away, Vieth concluded, “Looking at the components that comprise the index, we did see some very modest improvement in the freight-related metrics, with two categories exiting negative territory into neutral. However, ‘positive’ readings were cut in half in June, with just two of fifteen variables in positive territory. Combined with six indicators in negative territory, the Dashboard stood at -4 for a third consecutive month.” He also mentioned, “For readers who are new to this framework or want a refresh, we believe that the dashboard offers a three- to six-month forward-looking window into conditions in the US tractor market.”
