ACT Research: Class 8 Tractor Dashboard Drops Seventh Time in Eight-Month Period

ACT Research Co.
3 min readDec 21, 2022

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According to ACT Research’s recently released Transportation Digest, the top line on the Class 8 Tractor Dashboard slipped in October to a -3 reading, the seventh moderately downbeat reading in eight months.

ACT Research Tractor Dashboard: Aggregate Tally & USC8 Tractor Net Orders (SA)

The Transportation Digest, 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. This monthly report is designed as a quick look at transportation insights for use by fleet and trucking executives, reviewing top-level considerations such as for-hire indices, freight, heavy and medium duty segments, the US trailer market, used truck sales information, and an overview of the US macroeconomy.

“Looking at underlying row item behavior, we saw the trucking stock index pull back into negative territory and cancellations move to neutral territory,” said Kenny Vieth, ACT’s President and Senior Analyst. He continued, “Of the 15 variables in the Dashboard, four were at ‘positive’ levels, the most since July, while the number of variables in ‘negative’ territory declined from seven to six.”

Vieth concluded, “We believe the dashboard offers a three- to six-month forward-looking metric for conditions in the tractor market. We always warn it’s never wise to forecast on the basis of just one indicator, or even an aggregate of indicators. That said, the ‘Green Minus Red Tally’ has successfully signaled inflection points in the past, so there is a track record of success.”

ACT Research: Transportation Digest

ACT Research is recognized as the leading publisher of commercial vehicle truck, trailer, and bus industry data, market analysis and forecasts for the North America and China markets. ACT’s analytical services are used by all major North American truck and trailer manufacturers and their suppliers, as well as banking and investment companies. ACT Research is a contributor to the Blue Chip Economic Indicators and a member of the Wall Street Journal Economic Forecast Panel. ACT Research executives have received peer recognition, including election to the Board of Directors of the National Association for Business Economics, appointment as Consulting Economist to the National Private Truck Council, and the Lawrence R. Klein Award for Blue Chip Economic Indicators’ Most Accurate Economic Forecast over a four-year period. ACT Research senior staff members have earned accolades including Chicago Federal Reserve Automotive Outlook Symposium Best Overall Forecast, Wall Street Journal Top Economic Outlook, and USA Today Top 10 Economic Forecasters. More information can be found at www.actresearch.net.

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Click below to access:

More information about ACT’s Transportation Digest.

Information about additional ACT transportation publications and services.

November’s Transportation Digest press release.

ACT’s In the News page.

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ACT Research Co.
ACT Research Co.

Written by ACT Research Co.

ACT Research is the leader in commercial vehicle industry data, market analysis, and forecasting services for North America.