Transportation Economy News Updates

The world economy has proven surprisingly durable in the face of President Donald Trump’s trade wars, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said Dec. 2.

The producer price index rose 0.3% from a month earlier after a 0.1% decline in August, according to the BLS. The increase matched the median projection in a Bloomberg survey of economists.

Data provided to Transport Topics shows an acceleration in carrier capacity exits, and observers see a number of macroeconomic dominoes starting to fall into place.

In their post-meeting statement, Fed policymakers on Oct. 29 repeated their assessment that “job gains have slowed” and said “risks to employment rose in recent months.”

The Conference Board’s gauge decreased 1 point to 94.6, the lowest since April, data out Oct. 28 showed. The median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of economists called for a reading of 93.4.

American Trucking Associations Chief Economist Bob Costello warns that businesses remain hamstrung by trade policy uncertainty, and said the true impact of tariffs has barely been felt.

ATA President Chris Spear emphasized the federation's active role in this year’s regulatory changes, including in a meeting with then-presidential candidate Donald Trump last summer.

CEO Andy Jassy previously signaled that Amazon’s workforce would get smaller as the company increases its use of artificial intelligence to complete tasks normally handled by people. 

Executives told analysts the most recent quarter’s performance boded well for the coming quarters in spite of continued economic uncertainty. Overall, revenue was little changed.

The 2025 ATRI Top Industry Issues report, released Oct. 26, found that the economy was the top concern among industry stakeholders for the third year in a row.