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Now, the rapid increase in trucking demand is beginning to gather attention, with some corners of the financial markets wondering how long it will take until broader inflation gauges are impacted.

"When you have price pressure that is above and beyond what's normal, someone has to eat it," said Peter Boockvar, chief investment officer at Bleakley Advisory Group. "The truckers are obviously going to charge more for their services because they can, the buyers of that stuff who need the trucks are not going to eat the cost. They're going to do their best to pass it down."

While the most recent reading of the producer price index showed just a 2.6 percent gain over the past 12 months, the freight subindexes told a different story: truck transportation jumped 6 percent, rail was up 5.1 percent and air rose 3.9 percent. Overall, the general freight trucking component is just below the all-time high it hit in February.

General freight trucking component of the producer price index, from 2008-present.

Source: FactSet

"Demand is still exceeding capacity in most modes by a significant amount. In turn, pricing power has erupted in those modes to levels that spark overall inflationary concerns in the broader economy," Donald Broughton wrote in the most recent Cass Freight Index Report, a widely read industry publication.

While Broughton, founder and managing partner of Broughton Capital, said he believes technological improvements will offset long-term price pressures, he added that transportation indicators are showing noteworthy levels.

"April's 12.8% increase [in the Cass Freight Expenditures Index] clearly signals that capacity is tight, demand is strong, and shippers are willing to pay up for services to get goods picked up and delivered in modes throughout the transportation industry," he wrote. "We should...

LONDON, May 23 (Reuters) - Euro zone economic growth slowed much more sharply than expected this month, a business survey showed, which along with weaker inflation suggests a stiffer policy challenge for the European Central Bank ahead.

The ECB will end its asset purchase programme this year and hike interest rates in 2019, a Reuters poll found last month, although policymakers may be concerned to see inflation pressures easing alongside weakening growth.

While the expansion still remained relatively strong, growth slowed in both of the bloc’s two biggest economies, Germany and France. Forward-looking indicators also deteriorated, suggesting no imminent bounce-back.

IHS Markit’s Euro Zone Composite Flash Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI), seen as a good guide to economic health, sank in May to an 18-month low of 54.1 from 55.1, below all forecasts in a Reuters poll which predicted a dip to 55.0.

“It is a gloomier-looking picture than we were seeing at the turn of the year,” said Chris Williamson, chief business economist at IHS Markit. “But let’s not get too carried away with the fact we are slowing — we still have reasonably robust PMI numbers.”

He said the PMI, alongside the April reading, pointed to second quarter growth of 0.4 percent, weaker than the 0.6 percent prediction in an April Reuters poll.

A composite output price index fell to an eight-month low of 53.0 from 53.4. Euro zone inflation slowed to 1.2 percent in April, official data showed last week, moving further away from the ECB’s 2 percent target ceiling.

Despite those easing...

President Donald Trump’s maximalist approach in recasting his nation’s trade relations may soon hit U.S. farmers and manufacturers, as America’s trade partners prepare retaliatory tariffs that could generate $3.45 billion in revenue.

In just the past week, the European Union^[1] threatened $1.6 billion of additional levies in response to U.S. tariffs on metal imports; Russia prepared $537.6 of added duties; Turkey $266.6 million; Japan $264.3 million; and India $165.6 million, according to filings with the World Trade Organization^[2]. China already imposed $611.5 million of additional retaliatory tariffs.

To read more about the EU’s trade conflict with the U.S., click here^[3]

Citing national security concerns, the U.S. imposed import duties of 25 percent on steel and 10 percent on aluminum in March, giving regions including the EU, Mexico and Canada temporary exemptions while they negotiate alternate resolutions. While the EU has indicated a willingness to discuss means of resolving global steel overcapacity, European leaders have said they won’t begin negotiations until Trump has provided a permanent exemption on the metals tariffs.

“As a matter of principle, we will talk about everything with a friendly country that respects WTO rules,” French President Emmanuel Macron said immediately after the U.S. tariffs were enacted. “But, by the same principle, we won’t talk about anything while there’s a gun pointed at our head.”

Trade Tiff

Six nations have threatened $3.45 billion in retaliatory tariffs against the U.S.

WTO filings

The countries that have filed preliminary complaints with the WTO are seeking to pressure the Trump administration to withdraw the metal duties by specifically targeting U.S. goods that are produced by voters in states that sent Trump to the ...