A slowing Canadian economy will result in consumer spending falling to its lowest level in a decade this year, according to a new report from the National Bank of Canada. Economists at the bank expect real consumption growth – which is calculated once the impact of inflation is stripped out – to hit 1.3 per cent in 2019, which would be the lowest since 2009 when it fell to 0.2 per cent amid the global financial crisis.
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The Institute for Supply Management (ISM)reported today its Non-Manufacturing Report on Business that non-manufacturing activity grew to start 2019, albeit at a slightly slower level than it did to close 2018.
Last year, the big question about the US economy was, “How fast will it grow?” Now, everyone’s asking, “How fast will it slow?” Euphoria has given way to worry and concern amid trade disputes, stock market volatility, and a partial government shutdown. Economists who spoke at the SMC3 Jump Start 2019 conference this week don’t expect a recession in 2019, but slower growth may feel like decline after the strong growth of 2018.
The Port of New York and New Jersey witnessed a record-breaking year as it handled over 7 million TEU in 2018 for the first time in its history.
Among myriad goals and accomplishments outlined in his State of the Union address Tuesday night, President Trump asked Capitol Hill lawmakers to “unite for a great rebuilding of America’s crumbling infrastructure.”
The Association of American Railroads (AAR) today reported U.S. rail traffic for the week ending February 2, 2019, as well as volumes for January 2019. U.S. railroads originated 1,238,487 carloads in January 2019, up 1.7 percent, or 21,054 carloads, from January 2018. U.S. railroads also originated 1,316,168 containers and trailers in January 2019, up 0.5 percent, or 6,008 units, from the same month last year. Combined U.S. carload and intermodal originations in January 2019 were 2,554,655, up 1.1 percent, or 27,062 carloads and intermodal units from January 2018.
A combination of rising global interest rates and ongoing trade protectionism will continue to create unexpected turbulence for logistics managers over the course of 2019, say analysts. Meanwhile emerging markets will provide opportunities for faster growth-yet each faces its own set of operational challenges.
Some of the issues of most concern to the industry, such as the driver shortage, hours of service, and truck parking, are affected by the growth of e-commerce and omni-channel marketing. The American Transportation Research Institute released an analysis of these impacts, including the challenges and opportunities posed by more regionalized retail supply chains and the proliferation of urban “last mile” deliveries have presented.
President Trump is exposing China’s economic vulnerability, showing that the communist nation cannot maintain its rapid growth without it patently unfair mercantilist trade policies. The Chinese government recently announced that its GDP growth for 2018 of only 6.6 percent – the country’s slowest rate of economic development since 1990. Growth in the fourth quarter declined to 6.4 percent. For the second half of 2018, Chinese investment, consumer spending, manufacturing and exports all slowed markedly with the current trade war with the U.S. hurting China more than anticipated.
After months of painstaking bargaining by President Trump’s negotiating team, the renegotiated North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), now rebranded as the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), looks to set a template for modern American
trade agreements in the 21st century. By all initial measures the USMCA lives up to frequently promised, but seldom delivered, concepts of free, fair and reciprocal trade.