[the48thronin]

The article starts out...

ATLANTA Consumers are sending fewer, lighter packages, businesses are urgently trying to spend less on shipping orders, and it all spells bad news for UPS Inc. The economic bellwether said Thursday its second-quarter profit plunged 49 percent and cautioned that its near-term outlook probably won't improve.
The story from smaller rival FedEx Corp. last month was even worse, as it faced some of the same challenges as UPS, but also accounted for hefty one-time charges and reported a sizable loss in its most recent quarter.

but continues

UPS gave an outlook for the third quarter that was below Wall Street expectations, and executives said that while the economy may be bottoming out, the larger question is how long it stays at low levels before growing."I wouldn't call this a new normal," CEO Scott Davis said. "It will come back. Industrial production will grow again."

actually this one is better than most. for instance the "analysts" are all influenced by the "models" written in the age of cornicopians, and they show it in their numbers predictions.

For instance clearly in this article you can see the difference between the thinking of "model" driven anylists, and the people who are real world watching the performance and possible situatiuon of their industry. And the this is the bottom hype continues, even in quarterly statements.

GREENEVILLE, Tenn.—Cargo shipper Forward Air Corp. said Monday that second-quarter profit plunged 76 percent due to the recession and predicted that third-quarter earnings would be below Wall Street expectations.
Chairman and CEO Bruce A. Campbell said that the tough freight market lasted through the second quarter due to the recession but that volumes in the company's core airport-to-airport business "showed signs of stabilization." Tonnage declined less sharply than it did during the first quarter.

and of course there are the "who knows" people

Operating expenses fell 30 percent to $381 million. Meanwhile, the company said its revenue per total mile fell about 2 percent to $1.4 million. Werner said its fleet size fell by 10 percent during the period, and said it does not expect to cut its fleet further, though remains doubtful the industry will improve in the near term.

[rangerone314]

I love statistics like "Tonnage declined less sharply than it did during the first quarter" or "Less people became unemployed."

I suppose if a person was shot by 5 bullets in a minute, and after that he was only getting hit by one or two bullets a minute that the situation for him has improved, even though the ambulance hasn't arrived yet.

[the48thronin]

I love statistics like "Tonnage declined less sharply than it did during the first quarter" or "Less people became unemployed."

I suppose if a person was shot by 5 bullets in a minute, and after that he was only getting hit by one or two bullets a minute that the situation for him has improved, even though the ambulance hasn't arrived yet.

+1

[Novus]

I love statistics like "Tonnage declined less sharply than it did during the first quarter" or "Less people became unemployed."

I suppose if a person was shot by 5 bullets in a minute, and after that he was only getting hit by one or two bullets a minute that the situation for him has improved, even though the ambulance hasn't arrived yet.

It is a lot like the double speak coming out Iraq war the last 6 years. Oh only 30 soldiers were killed this month compared to losing 40 soldiers in the same month last year.