Spending patterns in the transportation industry are a good barometer of the condition of the economy at large — but the results can be murky.

Cortera, which sells a software platform for managing business data, recently collaborated with Moody’s Analytics on a COVID-19 Economic Impact Tracker. The tool draws on information about business spending patterns from millions of companies in over 100 industries. The results yield insight into the general condition of the economy, including unemployment trends and the state of individual industries. On this episode, we discuss the findings of the Economic Tracker with Jim Swift, founder and chief executive officer of Cortera. And we focus in particular on the transportation industry, itself a valuable indicator of economic trends. Swift explains why spend patterns in transportation can vary widely, depending on the industry they support. And he offers an opinion on how quickly the economy will improve over the coming months. Hosted by Bob Bowman, Editor-in-Chief of SupplyChainBrain.

Show notes:

Cortera’s COVID-19 Economic Impact Tracker.