Join our crew and become one of the 110,348 members that receive our newsletter.
Shipping containers are unloaded from ships at a container terminal at the Port of Long Beach-Port of Los Angeles complex, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, in Los Angeles, California, U.S., April 7, 2021. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson
America’s Merchandise Splurge is Slowly Grinding an End
For two years, the pandemic spurred Americans to buy more goods at the expense of services. That shift — which boosted everything from container shipping rates to sales of Peloton exercise bikes — looks to be grinding slowly toward an end.
Flexport Inc., a San Francisco-based freight forwarder, developed a gauge that sets zero as the baseline for pre-Covid spending and June 2020 at a level of 100% that the company used to mark the start of the work-from-home economy.
The measure, designed to track the actual goods-versus-services consumption balance from the US Bureau of Economic Analysis, has hovered well above 100% for much of the past two years as US households splurged on merchandise and cut back on services such as restaurants and travel.
The latest reading of Flexport’s Post-Covid Indicator released Tuesday shows it falling for a third straight month, to 107% in September — the lowest level since January 2021 and well off its peak of 151% set in April last year.
When adjusted for inflation, the return to normal spending behavior is even sharper, driven by demand relative to services for non-durable goods such as clothes and personal-care products. That figure is expected to come close to its pre-pandemic level, hitting 18% in September while durable goods consumption hits 90%, according to Flexport calculations.
“Spending preferences are heading back to pre-pandemic levels,” said Chris Rogers, a supply-chain economist with Flexport in London. “It has been taking a long time to get there — this isn’t something that turns on a dime. It’s going to take much of the rest of this year to get even close to the old normal.”
By Anna Shiryaevskaya and Katharina Rosskopf Nov 8, 2024 (Bloomberg) —European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has an idea for reducing the bloc’s consumption of Russian liquefied natural gas: import...
By Abhishek Vishnoi and Georgina McKay (Bloomberg) – Investors across Asia have ramped up bets on potential winners from Donald Trump’s imminent return to the White House, fueling big jumps...
By Marianna Parraga HOUSTON, Nov 8 (Reuters) – The Panama Canal Authority could double in coming years the number of containers that move through the commercial waterway that links the Pacific and...
November 9, 2024
Total Views: 416
Why Join the gCaptain Club?
Access exclusive insights, engage in vibrant discussions, and gain perspectives from our CEO.
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.