Class 8 orders released by ACT were 20,287 in October 2007, up 1% year-over-year (versus down 27% year-over-year in September 2007).
“While our sense is that much of the strength seen in October was due to historic seasonal order patterns, we note that monthly orders can be volatile,” Bear Stearns said in a release. “Still, if we average weak September orders and stronger October demand, orders were 16,064, up 12% month-over-month from August — an encouraging result, in our opinion.”
Class 5-7 orders were 16,481 in October, up 20% year-over-year (versus down 33% year-over-year in September).
“Arguably, Class 5-7 orders are a ‘purer’ measure of economically-derived demand, given that there was a smaller pre-buy in Class 5-7 (although we do think there was a ‘pre-build’),” Bear Stearns said.