United States LMI Logistics Managers Index

The Logistics Manager’s Index in the US increased to 58.9 in October 2024, the highest since September 2022, compared to 58.6 in the previous month, and pointing to a solid growth in the US logistics sector. The overall index has now increased for eleven consecutive months, providing strong evidence that the logistics industry is back on solid footing. Faster increases were seen for warehousing utilization (62.9 vs 60.9), transportation utilization (59.7 vs 57.6) and transportation prices (64.1, the fastest rate of growth since May of 2022 vs 58.4). At the same time, transportation capacity rebounded (50.8 vs 50). On the other hand, slower expansions were recorded for inventory levels (59.4 vs 59.8), inventory costs (65.8 vs 71.3) and warehousing capacity (55.8 vs 55.9).

The Logistics Manager’s Index in the US jumped to 58.6 in September 2024 from 56.4 in August, pointing to the highest growth rate in the logistics sector in two years. The overall index has now increased for ten consecutive months, providing strong evidence that the logistics industry is back on solid footing. Inventory Levels increased (+4.1 to 59.8), largely driven by the long-expected restocking of Downstream retailers. This growth has driven Inventory Costs to expand as well (+2.3 to 71.3). Also, Transportation Capacity has moved back down to 50.0 (vs 56.7), the second time that has happened in 2024. Warehousing Capacity growth also slowed (-3.7 to 55.9) and Transportation Utilization (-1.9 to 57.6) and Prices (-3.2 to 58.4) are expanding at slower rates relative to August. On the other hand, Warehousing Utilization (+3.3 to 60.9) and Warehousing Prices (+3.2 to 66.9) are expanding more quickly.

The Logistics Manager’s Index in the US edged down to 56.4 in August 2024 from 56.5 in July, but continued to point to a moderate expansion in the logistics sector. The major move are Inventory Levels (+6.1 to 55.7) that broke the streak of contraction over the previous three months. This suggests that after running inventories down, firms are building them back up again in anticipation of Q4, a sign of a return to traditional patterns of seasonality that we have not seen since pre-COVID. This buildup of inventories is somewhat tempered by increases in both Warehousing Capacity (+5 to 59.5) and Transportation Capacity (+5.8 to 56.7). This is consistent with the notion that a significant amount of inventory is still sitting near its point of entry, waiting to move to retailer shelves. Transportation Prices (-2.2 to 61.6) eased while Warehousing Prices were still up (+2.8 to 63.8).