U.S. imports on the world’s biggest trading route are dropping for the first time in almost two years as consumer confidence weakens to the lowest level since the recession that ended in 2009, Bloomberg writes.
Container volumes on the Asia-to-U.S. route fell 3.8 percent in the third quarter, the first decline since the last three months of 2009, according to Newark, New Jersey-based PIERS, a unit of UBM Global Trade that compiles cargo data. The slump probably continued last month, said Mario Moreno, a UBM economist. Rates for 40-foot containers to the West Coast, a benchmark, tumbled 24 percent this year, according to data from Clarkson Plc, the world’s biggest shipbroker.
“This is another piece of data that suggests growth will remain slow for the foreseeable future,” said Mark Vitner, a senior economist at Wells Fargo Securities LLC in Charlotte, North Carolina. “Consumers are still getting used to the idea that they are not going to make as much money or accumulate as much wealth as they thought they would a few years ago….”
Find out more at http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-11-08/cargoes-to-u-s-drop-for-first-time-since-09-as-confidence-wanes-freight.html
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