Domestic freight demand firming in October after soft start to month, but outlook remains guarded. Anecdotally, demand trends moderated to end September and continued into early October, largely a result of soft retail trends. Channel checks reflect firming trends to end October, but retail demand outlook remains unsettled; and few near-term catalysts support reaccelerating volume growth in 2014. Core pricing in Truckload (+1-2% yoy) and intermodal (+0-1%) remains pressured but positive, while LTL pricing moderated in 3Q13 (+2-3%, from +3-4%).
