by Calculated Risk on 1/24/2012 10:17:00 PM

Below is a graph that compares the Ceridian diesel fuel index and the ATA trucking index.

The ATA index showed a sharp increase in December: ATA Truck Tonnage Index Posts Largest Annual Gain in 13 Years

The American Trucking Associations’ advanced seasonally adjusted (SA) For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index jumped 6.8% in December after rising 0.3% in November 2011. The latest gain put the SA index at 124.5 (2000=100) in December, up from the November level of 116.6.

But the Ceridian index showed only a small increase: Pulse of Commerce Index Increased 0.2 Percent in December

The Ceridian-UCLA Pulse of Commerce Index® (PCI®), issued ... by the UCLA Anderson School of Management and Ceridian Corporation, rose 0.2 percent in December following the 0.1 percent increase in November and the 1.1 percent increase in October.

Click on graph for larger image.

Here is a graph comparing the two indexes. In general the two indexes move together, but there are periods when one index is strong than the other. As an example the ATA trucking index was moving sideways prior to the recession, but the Ceridian index was still increasing.

And recently the ATA index is showing a strong increase, but the Ceridian index is only increasing slightly. Perhaps rail traffic is the tie breaker: AAR: Rail Traffic increased 7.3 percent YoY in December