Shipping Into The U.S. Unexpectedly Jumped In December

The Business Insider ^ | 1-12-2010 | John Carney and Kamelia Angelova

[blam]

Shipping Into The U.S. Unexpectedly Jumped In December

John Carney and Kamelia Angelova
Jan. 12, 2010, 4:58 PM

Shipping into the U.S. climbed from November to December, defying typical seasonal trends and perhaps demonstrating growing demand in the U.S.

"December was a surprisingly good month that put a promising end to 2009," the research company Panjiva said in a report issued today.

Specifically:

There was a 3% increase in the number of global manufacturers shipping to the U.S. market There was a 2% increase in the number of U.S. companies receiving waterborne shipments from global manufacturers
Traditionally, these numbers decline from November to December (-5% in 2009 and -1% in 2008)
You can expect that the good news will continue, although it may be more confusing than clarifying. For the first quarter, the year-over-year comparisons will likely look very good. But that will largely be a result of the global trade free fall in 2009. A better comparison is probably against 2008 or 2007.

[Cheetahcat]

Some restocking of Inventory I would imagine nothing meaningful.

[4rcane]

it means US is consuming more than producing, which is negative news as US is going into more debt

[sportutegrl]

Shipping Into The U.S. Unexpectedly Jumped In December

It's almost as if some gift related holiday occured in December. I can see how that would be unexpected.

[jwparkerjr]

re: perhaps demonstrating growing demand in the U.S.

My guess would be that businesses held off ordering Christmas inventory for as long as they could. Even without the financial problems we're experiencing more and more businesses are going to the “just in time” sort of stocking.

It would also be my guess that the writers are Obama supporters and are reading too much into an up tick that should have been expected. I'm sure their style book has a listing of all sorts of good things that are going to happen anyway and telling them how to spin it to do the most good for The One.

I know it's a minor thing, but darn it frustrates me to have watched as they tried to make the worst out of anything good that happened during the Bush years, and now even the worst news is reported as something positive to make Obama look good.