Cass Freight Index (Shipments)
The Cass Freight Index tracks the number of freight shipments across North America, built from Cass Information Systems' payment database that processes tens of billions of dollars in transactions for hundreds of large shippers. It spans truckload, less-than-truckload, rail, intermodal, and air freight, so it captures the physical movement of goods before they show up in sales data.
Latest reading
As of April 2026, Cass Freight (Cass Freight YoY %) stands at -4.4% — up from -4.5% the prior reading. Freight volumes lead GDP by several months — goods have to ship before they sell — so the year-over-year rate is the read worth watching. Sustained YoY declines signal a goods slowdown and often confirm or contradict the ISM manufacturing surveys; multi-month trends matter far more than any single print. The index cratered in 2008-09 and April 2020 and spiked to records during the 2021 supply-chain crunch. Series history runs from 1993 to present.
Cass Freight YoY %
Next release: TBD
Full history
How to read it
Freight volumes lead GDP by several months — goods have to ship before they sell — so the year-over-year rate is the read worth watching. Sustained YoY declines signal a goods slowdown and often confirm or contradict the ISM manufacturing surveys; multi-month trends matter far more than any single print. The index cratered in 2008-09 and April 2020 and spiked to records during the 2021 supply-chain crunch.
Methodology & data
Cass Freight is sourced from Cass via the Federal Reserve's FRED service (Cass Information Systems via FRED (FRGSHPUSM649NCIS), monthly, seasonally adjusted). We pull the complete history, chart it on a monthly basis, overlay SPY for context, and generate a dated plain-English reading from the latest release — with no smoothing or adjustment beyond what the chart legend states.
Every reading is stamped with its release date, last updated 2026-06-09. See our methodology for the standards every series on the site is held to.
- Category
- Growth
- Frequency
- Monthly
- Source
- Cass
Related indicators
Frequently asked questions
What is the Cass Freight Index (Shipments)?
The Cass Freight Index tracks the number of freight shipments across North America, built from Cass Information Systems' payment database that processes tens of billions of dollars in transactions for hundreds of large shippers. It spans truckload, less-than-truckload, rail, intermodal, and air freight, so it captures the physical movement of goods before they show up in sales data.
How do you read Cass Freight?
Freight volumes lead GDP by several months — goods have to ship before they sell — so the year-over-year rate is the read worth watching. Sustained YoY declines signal a goods slowdown and often confirm or contradict the ISM manufacturing surveys; multi-month trends matter far more than any single print. The index cratered in 2008-09 and April 2020 and spiked to records during the 2021 supply-chain crunch.
Where does the Cass Freight data come from?
Cass Information Systems via FRED (FRGSHPUSM649NCIS), monthly, seasonally adjusted. We chart the full history and publish a dated, plain-English reading with every release; the raw series is downloadable as CSV at /data/indicators/cass-freight-index.csv.
How often is Cass Freight updated?
Cass Freight is a monthly series from Cass, refreshed here as soon as a new release posts to FRED.