The U.S. trucking industry has suffered a dramatic downturn in recent months and financial analysts are worried the bad news is a presage of widespread economic trouble.
According to data compiled by Reuters, the demand for trucking every kind of product from food to furniture has been in a free fall since March. And one segment of the industry that deals with on-demand trucking, known as the "spot market," has been hit especially hard.
"It basically just dropped off a cliff," said Craig Fuller, the CEO of transportation data company FreightWaves, in conversation with the news agency.
Analysts fear the downward trend could soon "decimate truckers' ability to dictate prices and push some small trucking firms into bankruptcy," the outlet stated. But not only that, it could foreshadow a wider recession across all sectors of the U.S. economy.
