This holiday peak shipping season is shaping up to be a fairly solid one compared to the past two years in terms of spot and rejection rates despite lower demand. The fragility of the market is on display as pressure continues to mount on the supply side, something that will persist into 2026 and make the market more vulnerable. If there is any economic tailwind or strong disruptive force, rates may go parabolic. There is, however, nothing in the data that suggests this is coming from a demand perspective. There are a few potential items that may help stimulate the economy in 2026 in the form of tax breaks and hopefully a reduction in trade policy uncertainty, but those are difficult to measure at this point. For now, the weather is the most important thing to monitor as history suggests it can have the strongest influence in January.