Despite China COVID Lockdowns Earlier, Container Volumes Still Near Record Levels RedStone Resource July 1, 2022 Inside This EditionContainer Freight Rates Dropping, Still Historically Elevated There are many questions about the drop in freight rates to ship containers between key ports around the world. Obviously, economic slowing is partly at play here. But the other…
Federal Reserve Hikes Rates 75 Basis Points RedStone Resource June 17, 2022 Inside This EditionInventory to Sales Ratios Remain Balanced The latest data on the inventory to sales ratio for most sectors of the freight economy came in slightly higher than prior, but they remain historically lower. For instance, the national inventory to sales ratio…
Manufacturing Remains Stable in May RedStone Resource June 2, 2022 Inside This EditionConsumer Confidence Softens Slightly in May There are several different consumer confidence measures in the industry, but the one from the Conference Board is a good representation of a stable measure that has been reactive to various economic conditions over the years. The…
Could Diesel Shortages Be the Next Crisis? RedStone Resource May 18, 2022 Inside This EditionChina Says Could Ease Restrictions in Coming Days Promises have been made in the past by elements of the Chinese Government to start easing COVID restrictions, but there are some real signs that this could be the case. China has moved…
Rail Firms Face Pressure as Capacity is Overwhelmed by Demand RedStone Resource May 5, 2022 Inside This EditionRail Firms Face Pressure as Demand Overwhelms Capacity Like all industries, the rail sector is struggling to get workers back on the job after the pandemic. The supply chain and warehousing sector has 1.8 million jobs open in…
Texas Eases Cross-Border Manual Inspection Mandates RedStone Resource April 20, 2022 Inside This EditionUS Business Inventories Remain Too Low Across Most Sectors The US inventory-to-sales-ratios (ITSR) were updated recently and most of them remain “too low” compared to historic levels. Total business ITSRs were still sitting at lows that would keep the global supply chain…
China’s Manufacturing Sector Slips Back into Contraction RedStone Resource April 6, 2022 Inside This EditionChina’s Manufacturing Sector Slips Back into Contraction China’s manufacturing sector serves as a leading indicator of global economic activity, and it just turned in a poor monthly report on activity. The manufacturing sector PMI came in at 48.1 in March, down…
US Reshoring and Nearshoring Trends to Accelerate? RedStone Resource May 24, 2022 Inside This EditionRaw Material Shortages Having Bigger Impact Than Expected Global metal supplies have been falling for months. Metals prices used in manufacturing and construction have surged with nickel leading the way after an investor was forced to meet a margin call, nickel prices…
Impact of War in Ukraine on Global Supply Chain RedStone Resource March 10, 2022 Inside This EditionChina’s Manufacturing Sector Jumps Back to Life After nearly 45 days of disruptions from the Lunar New Year and hosting the Olympics, Chinese manufacturing and supply chain activity has restarted. The manufacturing PMI for the country came in at…
WTO: Supply Chain Congestion Will Ease Soon RedStone Resource February 24, 2022 Inside This EditionCyber Attacks Increasing in 2022 Many popular news reports point to the Russia/Ukraine conflict as pushing the risk of cyber attacks higher, and that could very well be the case. But since the beginning of the year, cyber security experts say…