Cass Freight Index Grows 8.3 Percent in August

The closely watched Cass Freight Index for U.S. shipping jumped back into positive territory in August, increasing 8.3 percent from the month before and joining other signals of returning industrial growth.

The Cass shipments index recovered in August after sliding in July on a month-to-month basis for the first time in seven months, and it grew 16.5 percent over the same month a year ago.

By The Numbers: Cass Freight Index.

Shippers also paid more to move goods in August as the Cass index for expenditures increased 7.6 percent over July and was up 33.4 percent over the same month a year ago. That marked the strongest year-over-year growth in the expenditures index since the recovery began at the start of the year and pushed that index to its highest point since September 2008.

The new freight index from Cass Information System followed reports Wednesday showing manufacturing growth in the United States and China accelerated in August, lowering fears that the fragile economic recovery was skidding to a halt.