US Logistics Growth at 1-Year High

The Logistics Manager’s Index in the US increased to 61.5 in February 2026, the highest in a year, from 59.6 in January. The reading also breaks an eleven-month streak of readings below the all-time overall average of 61.3. This slightly above average yet steady rate of growth is consistent across supply chains, with no significant differences between Upstream and Downstream (56.2 and 59.2), early and late (55.2 and 58.1) or large and small (58.1 and 54.7) respondents. Inventory levels expanded at roughly the same pace as the previous period (53.8 vs 53.9), while inventory costs moderated (67.8 vs 71.3). Warehousing capacity remained unchanged (50 vs 50), but warehousing utilization rose (60.3 vs 54.4), and warehousing prices slowed (62.6 vs 64.8). Meanwhile, transportation utilization increased at a faster rate (61.9 vs 58.1), but transportation capacity declined further (41 vs 47.1), contributing to higher transportation prices (76.7 vs 71.4).

The Logistics Manager’s Index in the US rose to 59.6 in January 2026, the highest in seven months, from 54.2 in December. The reading pointed to a faster rate of expansion in the logistics sector largely due to a shift back towards milder restocking to start the year. Inventory levels rebounded from contraction (+18.8 to 53.9) although the increase is relatively mild compared to what we often see in January when firms are engaged in restocking. This suggests that respondents kept with their future predictions from last year and running inventories relatively lean to start the year. This is possibly reflective of the continued high costs, with inventory costs increasing (+8.4 to 71.3). Meanwhile, warehousing capacity dropped (-11.2 to 50) and warehousing utilization bounced back from contraction (+11.6 to 54.4). Transportation is still tight (+10.9 to 47.1) which led to another increase in transportation prices (+4.8 to 71.4), the most since April 2022.

The Logistics Manager’s Index in the US fell for a second consecutive month to 54.2 in December 2025 from 55.7 in each of the previous two months. The reading pointed to the slowest expansion in the logistics sector since April 2024, with the majority of the downward pressure coming from inventory and warehousing markets. There was an extreme contraction in inventory levels (-17.4 to 35.1) likely due to a rapid holiday rundown of extreme levels of inventory, which led to a slowdown in inventory cost (-8.1 to 62.9). At the same time, warehousing capacity increased (+6.4 to 61.2) and warehousing utilization hit a second-consecutive all-time low (-4.7 to 42.9). All of these downward movements are due to firms continuing to move inventories downstream towards consumers. This downstream push catalyzed transportation metrics, with transportation capacity moving back to contraction (-13.1 to 36.9) while transportation prices went up (+1.8 to 66.7).