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NAV earnings conference call 6-Sep-18 https://finance.yahoo.com/news/edited-transcript-nav-earnings-conference-181746949.html The alliance with Volkswagen Truck & Bus, now the TRATON Group, proceeds according to plan as we progress with the procurement joint venture and settle in on an array of exciting technology projects. Given Q3 performance and the strong truck market, we will again increase guidance for 2018. And Walter will provide the details in a minute. And last but not least, although we normally talk about the coming year on the December call, I'd like to provide some early insight. We are bullish on 2019, and we believe that it will look a lot like 2018 with Class 6 to 8 trucks and buses in our core markets coming in, in a range of 385,000 to 415,000 units. Class 8 was in those numbers in the range of 255,000 to 285,000 trucks. First, let's talk orders. GDP growth in Q2 was 4.1%, the strongest quarter since Q3 of 2014. In July, the Consumer Confidence Index rose to 127.4, the highest level since 2000. And year-to-date, the ISM Purchasing Managers Index is well above 50, the highest level since 2004. These conditions support fleet utilization, higher freight rates and improved carrier profits. Look, it's just a great time to be in the truck business. July was a record month for Class 8 orders at over 52,000 units. These numbers have created industry backlogs into Q2 of 2019. So we're now questioning if all these orders will be built. Are customers placing orders with several OEMs, ready to cancel one if the other is delivered first? Or how many orders are placeholders or slots reserved for stock units that can be moved out or canceled at a later date? These are all good questions. Look, at Navistar, we attempt to manage the reporting of orders as accurately as possible. July was a good order month for us as well. We don't expect a lot of cancellations. Let me tell you why. In the third quarter, our core market net orders were up 90% year-over-year. July was Navistar's highest order receipt month in more than a decade. Navistar's order share grew to 18%. At the end of Q3, Navistar is the only OEM to have grown Class 8 retail share during the fiscal year. In the third quarter, we achieved strong year-over-year growth in Class 8 heavy retail market share, thanks to the performance of the LT Series on highway truck and the 12.4-liter A26 engine. The company's share of the 13-liter heavy registrations more than doubled year-over-year through June 2018. And this did not detract from the company's 15-liter share, which also grew during that time frame. July was the first big month for orders for the new MV Series medium-duty truck as many dealers sold down the old DuraStar and now need to restock. The MV is generating real excitement. And through July, our order receipts in medium were up by a percentage point year-to-date and the July order share in Class 6 and 7 was 38%. So we took in a lot of orders in Q3, July in particular, yet incidental order cancellations have remained very stable for the last 18 months, and we don't see it changing much going forward. We expect to build the units in our backlog. In summary, the current strong economy and order backlog support a strong truck market for the remainder of the year and well into 2019. And although Q3 performance is impacted by supplier constraints, we continue to monitor the supply base very closely to avoid major disruptions. We are expecting a strong Q4. And as such, we're increasing guidance. The LT and the LT with the A26 is gaining share in the market. Our order share in the new MV medium truck is growing and all International trucks are delivering the best uptime for our customers that anyone can remember. And now we're taking orders for the new Class 4/5 CV Series, which launches before the end of the calendar year. We believe 2019 will be another very good year for the industry and for Navistar. Navistar President & CEO Troy Clarke

Efficient haulage.

Scania Group Press Release / September 14, 2018 Spanish car manufacturer SEAT and its logistics partner Grupo Sesé have teamed up to assess the advantages of operating 31.7-metre-long tractor and trailer combinations. The tests, which are taking place at SEAT’s factory near Barcelona and in Zaragoza, see a Scania R 580 tractor unit pulling two 13.6-metre trailers, thus increasing the payload to 70 tonnes. The SEAT and the haulage company will evaluate performance and the benefits in reducing emissions, increasing efficiency and enhancing road safety. SEAT hopes that the tractor-trailer combination to reduce carbon emissions by 20 percent and logistics costs by 25 percent. Potentially enormous advantages “This has the capacity to reduce the number of trucks circulating by half and that gives enormous advantages in terms of sustainability, environment, safety and efficiency,” says Dr Christian Vollmer, Vice President for Production and Logistics at SEAT. Additionally, the twin trailers are well suited for use in intermodal transport solutions, since freight trains are designed to operate at maximum performance with trailers of 13.6 metres. The 31.7-metre tests continue SEAT and Grupo Sesé’s track record of introducing long tractor and trailer combinations to Spain. It’s just two years since the duo started using 25.5-metre long tractor and trailer combinations in the country, until now the longest vehicles driving on Spanish roads. Scania’s pioneering example The Scania Transport Laboratory – which carries out transport assignments between Scania’s production plants – pioneered 31.7-metre tractor and trailer operations in 2015. Each day, two extra-long trucks travel nearly 600 kilometres from the company’s main production plant in Södertälje to Malmö en route to Scania’s plant in the Netherlands. “The concept works very well and is beneficial for both the environment and the traffic situation,” reports Managing Director Jan Björklund, Scania Transport Laboratory. “With a payload of approximately 73 tonnes, we save 25 percent in fuel costs with the same percentage reduction in CO2 emissions.” .

Scania Group Press Release / September 13, 2018 Welcome to Scania Driver Competitions Europe 2018/2019. Find out more at scania.com/driver-competitions .

Can someone please tell me why illegal immigrants are being allowed into the country??? .

Today's Trucking / September 13, 2018 MONTREAL, Que. — While walking the grounds of a small truck show earlier this summer, I spotted this gorgeous red Kenworth along one of the rows of trucks and immediately did a double take. It wasn’t the big 76-inch sleeper that caught my eye, but the set-forward steer axle and squat brawny frontal profile of a T880S. Kenworth offers the T880S variant as a vocational chassis mostly for heavy operators like those in the ready-mix sector who need the extra few inches of axle spacing to meet bridge law requirements in some American states. I didn’t expect to see one here in Canada and I really didn’t expect to see one equipped with a 76-inch sleeper, rigged for on-highway operation. Kenworth says there are only a couple like it and they are both believed to be in Quebec. It’s not often we get what reporters call a scoop on a test drive story, but this test drive is just that: it’s the first time you’ll read about this unique package that I’m predicting soon won’t be so unique. I, and Daniel Paquette, the business development manager at Kenworth Montreal who spec’d the truck, think this will become a popular alternative to the T680 and T880 in some of the more severe Canadian applications where aerodynamics takes a back seat to ruggedness. It was spec’d for a potential tank-hauling customer. Tank trailers typically have a shallow king pin setting, as did the four-axle flatdeck trailer we tested the truck with in Montreal in mid-September. We axle-weighed the load before we left the yard and got the following results — steer axle, 5,120 kg; drive axles, 16,200 kg; trailer axles, 30,820 kg. We were comfortably under the limits all around, but a set-back steer axle might have scaled a bit heavier. According to Paquette, the main reason for putting that truck together was that folks just like the look of the thing. He says he had several requests from his customers to bring one into Montreal so they could have a closer look. “They like the tough, brawny look of the short hood and the set-forward axle,” he told me. I can’t say I disagree Paquette’s customers. (And a thank-you is in order here to Pierre Aubin of L’Express du Midi of Ste-Catherine, Que., for loaning us the flatdeck load of drywall for the test drive. It was a real treat to get a Canadian-weight load to test drive a Canadian-weight truck.) As highway trucks go, this one is a curious mix of rugged and comfortable. It’s spec’d with most of the top-of-the-line driver comfort items like the Diamond VIT interior, swiveling passenger seat and swing-out table, drawer-type fridge, and wiring for a microwave and an inverter. It has the Extreme Temp insulation package as well as a cab heater. Up front we get the full gauge package, and premium seats. In short, just about everything a well-appointed over-the-road truck would have. And under all that is a robust chassis where the heavier components are closer to the top of the list in the data book, like the 2,132,000-lb. RBM frame, heavy-duty crossmembers, 14,600-lb. front suspension, and a 46,000-lb. rear suspension with heavy-duty air springs. The truck is powered by a Paccar MX13 engine cranking out a whopping 510 hp and 1,850 lb-ft of torque. Paquette told me that many of his customers who run loads similar to our test load and even larger B-train loads prefer the 545- and 600-hp Cummins X15 engines with 2,050 lb-ft of torque, but engineering can’t squeeze a red engine beneath the short T880S hood. Still, with it’s million-mile B10 life, two-year, 400,000 km warranty, and a 300-lb. slimmer profile, the MX13 offers a lot in return for what it gives up. Our test drive took us over the Mercier Bridge, and the new bridge over the Beauharnois Canal on Autoroute 30. Both bridges have pretty good grades and forced me to downshift with the MX13, but I suspect I’d have to make that downshift even with the beefier 15-liter engine. The 18-speed transmission gives the driver plenty of latitude to keep the engine where you want it for road speed and torque. On the road Two features of the T880S struck me before we had even left L’Express du Midi’s yard: the maneuverability and the visibility. From the driver’s seat the hood is almost invisible. That provides unprecedented visibility close to the hood, where pedestrians, bicycles and small cars like to hide. The top of the hood at the center is barely chest high, so anyone over four feet tall would be easily seen by the driver. On the right side, just ahead of the A pillar where tall flat hoods and air cleaners once lived, the view down to the side is very good. At a light with a car sitting alongside, the roof was hidden behind the pillar, but the hood and trunk were clearly visible. Score another point for the short, slanted hood. The wheel cut was a bit shy of 50 degrees, Paquette says, owing to the bulkier-than-usual TRW TAS 85 steering box, which is rated for 16,000 lb. It provided wonderfully solid steering at low speeds and out on the highway. My personal feeling is that set-back steer axles can wander a little, but this set-forward axle tracked the lanes like the truck was on rails. Construction on the Mercier Bridge has the lanes narrowed to about 10 feet, so precise steering was pretty welcome there. I tracked right across the bridge about six inches from the barriers on the right with no stress at all. Importantly, I don’t think Paquette was terribly worried either, sitting on the right-hand side and looking out over the abyss. Being a Kenworth, the interior was remarkably quiet. There was no wind noise coming in from around the doors, the engine and transmission noise — aside from those annoying grinding sounds that came up every now and then — was very tame, and even pleasant. It’s funny how fast you get used to some things. Most of the trucks I’ve driven lately have had downsped powertrains, meaning that engine speed at 105 km/h is in the 1,200 rpm range. This truck, with it’s 3.91:1 axle ratio, clearly spec’d for Quebec’s higher weight allowances, was turning about 1,450 at 95 km/h. It seemed fast to me, but that put it right at the upper limit of the MX13’s peak torque band (1,000-1,450 rpm). Given the weight we were pulling, I had to move fast to downshift as it began slipping down lower in the torque band. You lose momentum pretty quickly on a 3% grade at a gross weight of 51,000 kg. In those harder pulls, a rather noisy engine fan spoiled the atmosphere a couple of times. The truck has a 1,330 square-inch rad and a Horton on/off fan, which was obviously adequate for most of the driving we did. Maybe I’m just too used to the light American loads where engines don’t even break a sweat. I’ve saved the best for last here. The ride quality of this truck was sublime. The quality of the ride with the trailer on was unassailable — as solid and sure-footed as you’d expect, but more so. We had to bobtail from Kenworth’s headquarters in Saint-Laurent over to Ste.-Catharine to grab the trailer. That route takes you over some pretty rotten roads, but the suspension really took them in stride. I’m not enough of an engineer to explain it, but I put it down to having the suspension points at the extreme ends of the chassis — there’s no overhanging weight to keep the springs bouncing. It could also be the heavy front and rear suspensions, which you might be inclined to think would provide a rougher ride. I’d call it a stiff ride, but as smooth as I’ve ever felt in a big truck on deteriorating highways. As well, the cab suspension air springs and shocks sit six to eight inches outboard of the frame rails. That wide stance helps discourage cab sway, which can also lead to a wandering steering wheel. It may sound like I’m gushing about this T880S, but I’m not. There’s a lot of good stuff going on here, such as the large rear deck with wide unobstructed access from the right and left sides, even though it sits on a relatively tight 244-inch wheelbase. Or the ease of opening the hood, and the vast amount of space technicians have once they get around the set-forward front wheel. It was a pleasure driving this fairly unique truck for a few hours, and as I indicated earlier, I think we’ll soon see many more of these on Canadian highways. For fans of set-forward axle tractors, it’s a really nice compromise from the long-hood W900. And other people will tell you, it’s just got a certain look. .

In 2017, Wards Auto says 192,252 heavy trucks were sold in the US. China is the world's largest heavy truck market, almost four times US sales.

Volvo Trucks Develops Autonomous Vehicle Called Vera Transport Topics / September 13, 2018 Volvo Trucks, the manufacturing arm of Volvo Group, underscored its commitment to offering autonomous commercial vehicles in the near future with the announcement recently that it has developed a self-driving, battery-electric, tractor-like unit it calls Vera. Vera is low and sleek, has no space for a driver, and hooks up to a trailer using a fifth wheel and a kingpin. Vera is intended to pull freight in ports, factory areas and large logistics centers where high volume loads are highly repetitive and cover short distances — but additional uses are possible. In the near future, Volvo Trucks’ transport solution will be further developed together with selected customers in prioritized applications, according to a company release. The Gothenburg, Sweden-based truck maker is the second largest in the world, and its other technologies first developed in Europe have migrated to its U.S. brands. For example, its I-Shift automated manual transmission that now has 90% penetration at Volvo Trucks North America, and the platooning technology VTNA demonstrated in June in North Carolina with FedEx Corp. “The full potential of the transport industry is yet to be seen. Everything suggests that the global need for transportation will continue to significantly increase in the coming decade,” said Volvo Trucks President Claes Nilsson in a statement. Growing world population and increasing urbanization are leading to significant challenges to solve environmental issues such as congestion, pollution and noise. Rising consumption, the fast growth of e-commerce and the widespread shortage of drivers put higher demands on efficient transport solutions, according to Volvo. “If we are to meet this demand in a sustainable and efficient way, we must find new solutions. In order to secure a smoothly functioning goods-flow system we also need to exploit existing infrastructure better than currently,” Nilsson said. “The transport system we are developing can be an important complement to today’s solutions and can help meet many of the challenges faced by society, transport companies and transport buyers.” The autonomous electric vehicles will be linked to a cloud service and a transport control center, and equipped with sophisticated systems for autonomous driving — but Volvo did not immediately supply any specific details. They are designed to locate their current position to within centimeters, monitor in detail and analyze what is happening with other road users, such as at intersections, and then respond with high accuracy. The transport control center will continuously monitor the progress of each Vera and monitor each vehicle’s position, the batteries’ charge, load content, service requirements and a number of other parameters. Similar to an industrial production process, Vera’s speed and progress are tailored to avoid unnecessary waiting and to increase delivery precision. In this way Volvo believes it will be possible to minimize waste in the form of buffer stocks of trucks, and increase availability. Vehicles that operate on the same route also will cooperate to create optimal flow. “Our system can be seen as an extension of the advanced logistics solutions that many industries already apply today. Since we use autonomous vehicles with no exhaust emissions and low noise, their operation can take place at any time of day or night,” said Mikael Karlsson, vice president of autonomous solutions at Volvo Trucks. “The solution utilizes existing road infrastructure and load carriers, making it easier to recoup costs and allowing for integration with existing operations.” .

Crain’s Detroit Business / September 13, 2018 Tenneco Inc's shareholders approved proposals needed for the company's $5.4 billion acquisition of longtime auto parts competitor Federal-Mogul from billionaire investor Carl Icahn. The company said in a statement on Wednesday that the deal has received all necessary regulatory approvals, and they expect it to close Oct. 1. The acquisition is a step toward their ultimate goal of separating back into two new public companies -- one focused on replacement auto parts and the other on powertrain technology. Now, both companies compete in both sectors. The companies said in April that split is expected to happen in the first half of next year. Lake Forest, Ill.-based Tenneco plans to pay for the acquisition with $800 million in cash, about 30 million Tenneco shares and the assumption of debt. Tenneco said the three proposals passed with more than 90 percent of shares voted in favor. After the combined companies split up again, it's expected that headquarters for each company will remain in the Detroit and Chicago areas. The deal marks a payoff for Icahn, who bought up Federal-Mogul debt before the company's 2001 bankruptcy. That debt converted to ownership as part of the company's exit from bankruptcy years later. He increased his stake over time, eventually taking full ownership of the company in 2017 in a roughly $300 million deal after nearly a year of posturing with Federal-Mogul's shareholders. Tenneco posted $9.27 billion in total revenue in fiscal 2017 and reported net income of $274 million. Together, General Motors and Ford Motor Co. comprised more than a quarter of the company's sales last year. Federal-Mogul posted $7.43 billion in total sales in 2016 and $82 million in net income, the latest year available. In 2015 it had a $110 million loss, and a $168 million loss in 2014. None of Federal-Mogul's customers in 2016 accounted for more than 10 percent of its overall revenue, the company said in its annual report. The companies generated a combined $13.67 billion in direct sales with automakers during the 2017 calendar year, not including their vast aftermarket parts businesses, according to the Automotive News list of the top 100 global suppliers. Tenneco ranked No. 32 on that list while Federal-Mogul came in at No. 43. .

GM to recall 1.2M pickups, SUVs for steering problem Michael Wayland, Automotive News / September 13, 2018 DETROIT -- General Motors is recalling more than 1.2 million full-size pickups and SUVs globally because of a potential steering problem that could increase the risk of a crash. The automaker says the electric power steering on the affected vehicles can fail momentarily during a drop in voltage and suddenly return, mainly during low-speed maneuvers such as turning. If electric power steering assist is lost and then suddenly returns, the driver may have difficulty steering the vehicle, according to GM. All affected vehicles are from the 2015 model year. In the U.S., which represents more than 1 million of the affected vehicles, the recall campaign includes: Chevrolet Silverado (450,711) and GMC Sierra 1500 (186,083) pickups and Chevy Tahoe (145,198), Chevy Suburban (79,505), Cadillac Escalade and Escalade ESV (45,270) and GMC Yukon and Yukon XL (109,151) SUVs. Nearly 96,000 potentially defective vehicles were sold in Canada. GM, according to company spokesman Tom Wilkinson, is aware of 30 accidents resulting in two injuries because of the defect. No deaths have been reported, he said. The automaker recalled some 2014 model trucks last year for the same problem, including 800,000 Chevy and GMC full-size pickups. The full-size SUVs were not recalled, as they were previous-generation and the problem was not occurring in those models, according to Wilkinson. If power steering assist is lost, a driver information center message may alert the driver to an electric power steering problem. Also, other electrical subsystems may shut down at the same time or just before the event, which could temporarily disable the radio, Stabilitrack stability control system, driver information center, chimes, door-lock cycling, air conditioning or cruise control. GM will notify owners of the affected vehicles and dealers will update the electric power steering module software for free. No date has been set for the recall to begin but Wilkinson said dealers have the updated software packages to fix the problem. He encouraged customers to call their dealers to schedule an appointment.

And neither do I. Why are the US and EU pushing it so hard?

Martin is a wonderful person. Though at Volvo, he'll forever be a Scania man at heart.

Bloomberg / September 12, 2018 Martin Lundstedt, chief executive officer at Volvo Group, discusses rising oil prices, global truck demand, and the business impact of trade disputes. He speaks with Bloomberg's Matt Miller on "Bloomberg Markets." .

Volvo Trucks Press Release / September 6, 2018 Volvo Trucks has been using connectivity for many years to support customers with efficient service planning. Now technologies are opening up new opportunities to take truck uptime even further. Enabling a deeper, more thorough analysis in real time so that we can predict some potential failures that may otherwise have resulted in an unplanned stop. .

the former owner of Interstate Mack in Hagerstown, MD. I recall his name is Jackson.

Yes. OM471 = DD13 OM472 = DD15 OM473 = DD16 Power Shift 3 = DT12

https://demanddetroit.com/why-detroit/detroit-plant/

Fleet Owner / September 12, 2018 Public officials, government agencies, and companies yesterday signed on to a new program to accelerate deployment of zero and near-zero emission commercial vehicles and technologies. The pledge focuses on eight global markets for medium- and heavy-duty vehicles, seeking to achieve commercial success in each of them by 2025 and have zero-emission technology account for the bulk of new sales of these vehicles by 2040. Companies that have signed on include truck manufacturers, utilities, multinational technology developers, and others. The Global Commercial Vehicle Drive to Zero pledge is led by CALSTART, a nonprofit industry organization seeking to reduce emissions from trucks and buses in high-potential markets. The transition to these clean technologies, supporters say, would have significant benefits in lessening the impact of climate change, improving air quality, and promoting public health. "By showing the demand for these vehicles and focusing on the most viable markets, we can accelerate their adoption, improve air quality, and reduce emissions," said John Boesel, president and CEO of CALSTART. If medium- and heavy-duty vehicles can achieve commercial viability in these markets, he added, "we can work to reach economies of scale, bring costs down, and increase adoption throughout the entire medium- and heavy-duty vehicle industry." "Our climate ambition is to reduce emissions with 95% by 2030," noted Oslo, Norway Governing Mayor Raymond Johansen. "By working globally to achieve zero-emission dominance in commercial vehicle sales, we can achieve what would not be possible by working in isolation. I am pleased to announce that Oslo joins that pledge." The California Air Resources Board has adopted the pledge's targeted application approach to advance these technologies in California. The pledge applies this strategy on a global scale, targeting transit buses, shuttle buses, package and delivery trucks, urban box trucks, yard tractors, port-handling equipment, and regional Class 7/8 drayage trucks. In addition to its thousands of fleet vehicles now using alternative fuels, New York City operates more 1,700 plug-in on-road vehicles "and is looking forward to expanding hybrid and electric operations in heavy- and medium-duty trucking," said NYC Dept. of Citywide Administrative Services (DCAS) Deputy Commissioner and Chief Fleet Officer Keith Kerman. The city has also signed on to the pledge and "stands ready to work with public and private fleet partners to advance and expedite this transformation and thanks CALSTART for convening this effort," he added. Signers and supporters of the pledge include: Government City of New York New York State Energy Research & Development Authority California Air Resources Board South Coast Air Quality Management District Bay Area Air Quality Management District Los Angeles Dept. of Transportation Foothill Transit (Greater Los Angeles public transit agency) Elected Officials Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg Stockton, CA Mayor Michael D. Tubbs Oslo, Norway Governing Mayor Raymond Johansen Industry Siemens BYD Mitsubishi Fuso Trucks New Flyer Industries Proterra Southern California Edison Ballard Power Systems Ryder System Chanje Energy Axle Tech Effenco Workhorse Group Orange EV Mayor USA Motiv Power Systems Transpower US Hybrid Lightning Systems Auto Research Institute Viatec XL Fleet West Valley Construction Zenith Motors Unique Electrical Solutions

Reuters / September 12, 2018 Sweden’s Volvo, the world’s second-biggest truck maker, presented a new self-driving electric truck on Wednesday, which it said should help respond to the boom in ecommerce and a shortage of freight drivers. Volvo said the truck, which does not have a driver’s cab, was still under development and declined to say when it would be available commercially. It expects the vehicle to be deployed first in places like ports and large logistics centers. “We believe there will be a driver behind the steering wheel for the foreseeable future, but we will pretty soon see self-drive commercial vehicles in confined areas,” Lars Stenqvist, Volvo chief technology officer, told a conference in Berlin. Trucking is viewed by transport experts as a natural application for self-driving technology because of the relative predictability of highways compared with busy city streets. The cabless truck - which Volvo calls Vera and can pull loads weighing up to 32 tonnes - can be attached to any standard trailer, Michael Karlsson, head of autonomous solutions at Volvo Trucks, said after the vehicle was unveiled. “Vera means faith and we have faith in the future,” Karlsson said, adding the vehicle has a lower operating speed than a normal truck for safety reasons. Guests at the presentation were made to stand behind a barrier as the truck drove out unaided from a tent and were only allowed to approach when it came to a stop. The 1.4-million member International Brotherhood of Teamsters union is campaigning against new U.S. rules to speed the deployment of self-driving trucks, warning they could mean the loss of hundreds of thousands of jobs and hit road safety. However, trucking firms in many countries are finding it harder to attract and retain drivers amid tight labor markets. Karlsson said the truck would allow places like ports that are currently dependent on daytime working hours to run round-the-clock, optimizing the flows of goods and potentially cutting down on stockpiles and increasing productivity. He expects autonomous technology to increase the need for skilled drivers, while cutting down on the need for people to perform repetitive tasks.

U.S. producer prices post first drop in one-and-a-half years Reuters / September 12, 2018 U.S. producer prices unexpectedly fell in August, recording their first drop in 1-1/2 years, as declines in the prices of food and a range of trade services offset an increase in the cost of energy products. Despite the surprise weakness in producer prices reported by the Labor Department on Wednesday, overall inflation is steadily rising, driven by a tightening labor market and robust economy. The Federal Reserve is expected to raise interest rates later this month for the third time this year. “Inflation pressures should intensify in coming quarters,” said Ryan Sweet, a senior economist at Moody’s Analytics in West Chester, Pennsylvania. “The unemployment rate is low, GDP growth is above trend, wage growth is accelerating ... and fiscal policy is supportive for the economy.” The producer price index for final demand slipped 0.1 percent last month after being unchanged in July. August’s fall in the PPI was the first since February 2017. That further lowered the annual increase in the PPI to 2.8 percent from 3.3 percent in July. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast the PPI increasing 0.2 percent in August and advancing 3.2 percent year-on-year. A key gauge of underlying producer price pressures that excludes food, energy and trade services edged up 0.1 percent last month. The so-called core PPI gained 0.3 percent in July. In the 12 months through August, the core PPI increased 2.9 percent after rising 2.8 percent in July. The dollar was trading lower against a basket of currencies, while U.S. Treasury prices rose. Stocks on Wall Street were mixed. Declining Margins The correlation between producer and consumer prices has weakened after the government revamped the PPI basket and changed the methodology several years ago. The Fed’s preferred inflation measure, the personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index excluding food and energy, increased 2.0 percent in July, hitting the U.S. central bank’s 2 percent target for the third time this year. Government data on Thursday is expected to show consumer prices rising 0.3 percent in August after gaining 0.2 percent in July, according to a Reuters survey of economists. There has so far been no widespread price increases from the Trump administration’s import tariffs on lumber, washing machines, solar panels, steel and aluminum, as well as a range of Chinese goods. But with the trade war between the United States and China escalating, economists believe this will change and expect the import duties to boost inflation in the coming months. Recent manufacturing surveys continue to show increases in raw material prices amid growing strains on the supply chain. Wholesale food prices fell 0.6 percent in August, pulled down by sharp declines in the costs of eggs and fresh fruits and melons. Food prices, which dipped 0.1 percent in July, have now decreased for three straight months. Wholesale energy prices rose 0.4 percent in August, with gasoline prices surging 0.6 percent after slipping 0.1 percent in the prior month. Energy prices fell 0.5 percent in July. Overall, the cost of wholesale goods was unchanged in August after edging up 0.1 percent in July. Prices for iron and steel scrap fell 5.6 percent last month, the biggest drop since October 2017. Nonferrous scrap prices decreased 8.7 percent, the largest decline since January 2009. The cost of services slipped 0.1 percent last month, led by a 0.9 percent decline in the index for trade services, which measures changes in margins received by wholesalers and retailers. Services dipped 0.1 percent in July. Over 80 percent of the drop in the cost of services last month was attributed to margins for machines and equipment wholesaling, which fell 1.7 percent. “Declining margins at machinery and equipment firms suggest producers may be struggling to pass on rising input costs related to recent tariffs,” said Sarah House, a senior economist at Wells Fargo Securities in Charlotte, North Carolina. The cost of healthcare services rose 0.3 percent as a 0.5 percent drop in prices for hospital outpatient care was offset by a 0.6 percent jump in the cost of doctor visits, which was the largest gain since June 2010. There were also increases in prices of hospital inpatient and dental care. Healthcare prices ticked up 0.1 percent in July. Those healthcare costs feed into the core PCE price index.

Agreed. I see Dodge 4500s and 5500s everywhere, replacing Fords. When I ask the operators how they like them, they have nothing but good things to say. They're not having any problems at all. No doubt, the Cummins ISB is better than the Powerstroke and Isuzu Duramax. Bob, you know Dodge and Ford will have to introduce tilt hoods now on these larger models.