According to ACT Research’s recently released Transportation Digest, the top line on the Class 8 tractor dashboard took another tumble in March, extending the drop that started in January.

The report, which combines proprietary ACT data and analysis from a wide variety of sources, paints a comprehensive picture of trends impacting transportation and commercial vehicle markets.

“For the first time since the COVID recession of 2020, the top line of the 15-variable index has strayed into negative territory with a minus-three reading,” said Kenny Vieth, ACT’s President and Senior Analyst. “Looking at underlying row item behavior, we see adverse trends cropping up in the macro and financial indicators (consumer goods spending and the Dow Jones trucking stocks trends), freight metrics (Cass Freight Index) and ACT’s own data contributions, Class 8 cancellations, the order-to-build ratio, and the supply-demand balance component of our For-Hire Index (our proprietary fleet survey).”

When asked about the take-away, Vieth concluded, “It is hard to deny that the dashboard is signaling a rockier road ahead for the market in the second half of this year, as the supply-demand balance flips from constrained to easing.”