Complete market and operating analysis for the people making freight decisions.
The agency raised its fourth-quarter retail forecast to $5.55 and expects diesel crack spreads above $2 through November. The 2027 decline is gradual and depends on normalized Middle East tanker flows.
Three benchmarks that shape freight costs, demand, and business confidence.
Checked September 15, 2026. Latest available observations, not real-time quotes.
Latest available September 7, 2026
Latest available September 9, 2026
Latest available September 14, 2026
Original reporting and analysis, written in full for carrier leaders and operators.
USDA counted 86.0 million metric tons of corn exported in 2025/26, up 25%, while 15.6 million tons of sales moved into the new marketing year. The handoff separates completed freight from the book still waiting to move.
A new U.S. maritime advisory keeps attack and navigation risk high in the Persian Gulf, Strait of Hormuz and Gulf of Oman. The inland freight response begins with a confirmed vessel and voyage change, not a blanket delay assumption.
BLS's truck-freight commodity index rose 2.0% from July while water freight and cargo-arrangement measures were essentially flat. The divergence is a warning against carrying one modal price signal across an entire freight budget.
AAR's 13.8% year-over-year gain compared a full pre-holiday week in 2026 with a 2025 week that contained Labor Day. Current volume was actually 1.8% below the preceding week, making the calendar—not a sudden surge—the first fact to check.
PHMSA says federal hazmat law preempts the gasoline-transport tort duties presented in a New Jersey case. The ruling does not rewrite the HMR, cancel existing training obligations, or resolve every workplace-safety question.
TRAFFIX put national spot pricing near $3.38 per mile and tender rejections near 14.4% in its September 8 update even as volume remained 4% to 5% below a year earlier. The next test is whether that separation survives the holiday reset.
Two of Miami International Airport's four runways remained closed after a cargo-aircraft overrun. Because MIA is the nation's leading freight airport, the useful response is shipment-level confirmation—not a blanket delay assumption.
AAA's daily national diesel average reached $5.9015 on September 7, 30.13 cents above one week earlier. EIA's latest weekly benchmark remains $5.599 for August 31; the two series are useful for different decisions.
CBP is ending the legacy use of air manifests for express cargo physically arriving by truck. The 90-day transition applies to that process; it is not a new manifest rule for every carrier already using the standard truck workflow.
XPO, Saia and Old Dominion reported August tonnage changes from minus 0.9% to plus 8.7%. Shipment counts and weight per shipment moved differently at each network, so no single carrier supplies an industry demand verdict.
Real U.S. goods imports rose 3.8% in July while real exports fell 1.8%. The split expands the inbound-outbound planning gap, but value and volume totals still do not specify a truckload, lane or mode.
CBP is asking whether foreign export declarations, invoices, packing lists, origin records and transport documents should become U.S. entry data or retained records. It is an advance proposal, not a requirement; comments close December 1.
DAT's latest national spot sample shows flatbed linehaul easing to $2.67 per mile while remaining 32.2% above a year earlier. A sharper load-to-truck imbalance explains the pressure inside that dataset, not every contract lane.
BLS counted 316,000 openings across transportation, warehousing and utilities in July, down 67,000 from June. Hires and separations both rounded to 277,000, a balanced turnover reading that is broader than trucking alone.
An FMC rule effective today clarifies that common-carrier charge complaints can use the free interim process, formal adjudication or small claims. The routes carry different procedures and fees, but the rule does not create an automatic refund or a new detention standard.
The Port of Los Angeles moved more than 2.9 million TEUs from June through August, its busiest three-month stretch. But August imports were nearly flat from last year, separating sustained gateway workload from a new demand acceleration.
BTS counted 1,293 fewer cargo-airline employees in July while FedEx alone was down 1,448. The concentrated change is relevant to a major national network, but employment data cannot establish a service or lift reduction.
BTS now puts July's Freight TSI at 135.7, down 0.7% from June. Its new history also revises June to a 1.0% gain, replacing the three-month slide reported in August with a weaker—but uneven—spring and summer path.