Class 8 net new orders for January, released by A.C.T. today, were 22,100 - up 86% year-over-year and above Bear Stearns’ forecast of 19,000-21,000.
January marked the fourth consecutive month of over-20,000 Class 8 orders. Seasonally adjusted, January’s order intake was roughly 258,000 annualized -- even better than the seasonally adjusted annualized run-rate in the past three months of 230,000.
“We continue to believe that Class 8 orders bottomed for the cycle in April 2007 at 10,491,” Bear Stearns said.
Class 5-7 net new orders for January were 19,500 (vs. Bear Stearns’ 17,000-18,000 forecast), up 17% year-over-year (vs. up 82% year-over-year in December).
“Arguably, Class 5-7 orders are a ‘purer’ measure of economically derived demand,” Bear Stearns said.