DE | Weekly | Global Markets | Exploring U.S. High Frequency Data – 04/26/21

Posted April 27, 2021 by Diane Buscemi

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Exploring U.S. High Frequency Data
Rohan Kumar

Background
Just over a year ago, the COVID-19 Pandemic shook the world.

The initial shock was dramatic from a public health perspective alone, but it also substantially changed daily life.

Households, businesses and supply chains were forced to adapt in many ways. Overall economic activity plummeted. It was unprecedented.

During the early phase, it was fair to believe that the drastic changes would only be temporary. However, while we are beginning to see a path back to normal, many changes still linger.

To understand where economic activity and consumer behavior stand in the U.S. right now, high frequency data sources are useful. There are numerous types of these sources. Transportation data is a particular example that contains insights.

What Some Charts Say
Chart 1 shows daily U.S. airport travel volume based on TSA checkpoints.

Travel is still down from before the Pandemic but has improved considerably since the “Shock.” The average daily TSA travel volume for the current quarter is up 410% YoY and 46% QoQ.

Chart 2 displays public transit usage in major U.S. cities, collected from Moovit, Inc.

As in the airport travel volume, movement is better than a year ago but still depressed from normal times.

Implications and Perspectives
Major U.S. economic indicators are trending strongly upward thanks to vaccinations and Reopenings.

Improving transportation data supports the strong economic data. However, the gap that remains between current transportation and pre-Pandemic levels is a reminder that the inner workings of the economy have changed.

This gap is useful to monitor, because in the short-term it relates to slack in the system. Additionally, if the gap persists well into the late stage of the vaccine rollout, it would indicate long-term changes in consumer behavior and business activity.

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