by Wolf Richter
Wolf Street
Worst March, worst first quarter since 2010.
The goods-based economy in the US, largely dependent on the previously irrepressible but now strung-out American consumer, isn’t doing so well. To what extent things have deteriorated shows up in the freight data.
Freight shipments in March fell 1.5% in terms of volume from the already terribly low levels of March 2015, according to the Cass Freight Index. It has been an awful year so far. The index hit the lowest level for any March since 2010. This followed the worst February since 2011 and the worst January since 2010. This is not a blip.