ATA’s Bob Costello Makes 5 Economy Predictions

Bob Costello, Chief Economist & Senior Vice President of International Trade Policy & Cross Border Operations for the American Trucking Associations made his annual presentation yesterday on the state of the economy at the 2022 Food Shippers Conference in Orlando.

Costello offered these five educated predictions of what may happen this year in the U.S. economy: 

1. GDP growth slows, but generally remains above average

2. The main drivers of truck freight decelerate or even contract, but remain at high levels

3. Inflation continues to be high, but should decelerate through the year

4. Oil prices remain high as few countries have enough additional production capacity

5. Fed to raise interest rates 4-5 times, .25 percentage points per time.

Although recent inflation readings increases the possibility of a 50-basis points increase in March. Fed’s ability to impact inflation is limited due to the various sources of higher prices.

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