US supply chain remained strained at year end

Our US supply-chain stress tracker offers some encouraging news to kick off the new year. Pressures on the inventory front diminished in December, albeit modestly. However, logistics bottlenecks remained – despite improvement on the surface in our transportation tracker measure. Meanwhile, stress rose on the activity, price, and labour fronts. The Omicron variant threatens to jam the economy’s gears, intensifying already severe supply-chain problems.

What you will learn:

• The impact on congestion of a new policy for Los Angeles and Long Beach requiring inbound ships to wait further offshore for an open berth
• Inflation rate changes in December for durables manufacturing, wholesale services, and raw materials
• How higher capacity utilisation rates, stronger shipments and forward-looking orders data will impact excess capacity as strong demand persists into 2022.