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Orders for heavy-duty trucks in the U.S., Canada and Mexico surged 76% in December (compared to the year before) to 37,500. Erica Phillips writes of truck demand in the WSJ:
“It’s been building,” said ACT analyst Kenny Vieth. “You typically expect a good year-end, but we did see a change in the pace of orders starting in October.” Soaring demand in the fourth quarter led to full-year order growth of 59% after a slump in 2016, Mr. Vieth said.
In the last weeks of 2017 freight rates reached some of their highest levels in more than three years, as retailers scrambled to restock during the busy holiday season.
And the growth in orders is expected to continue this year. In a note to investors Thursday, analysts with Stifel said “2018 will not represent the ‘peak’ of this [truck-buying] cycle, which has become a concern among investors, as we believe 2019 will be stronger yet.”
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