By luck @Adobe Stock

Connor Hart and Don Nico Forbes of The Wall Street Journal report that among the largest U.S. truckers, demand remains soft. They write:

Profits at Old Dominion Freight Line and Knight-Swift Transportation fell last quarter as a weak freight market and supply-chain disruptions took a toll on two of the country’s biggest trucking companies.

Knight-Swift, the country’s biggest operator in the truckload sector, said earnings fell by nearly half in the third quarter, dragged down by the effects of Hurricane Helene and the labor unrest that led to strikes at a swath of U.S. ports.[…]

The fall was driven by a 4.8% drop in less-than-truckload tons per day, and partially offset by a 4.6% increase in LTL revenue per hundredweight, excluding fuel surcharges, a key measure of pricing strength. […]

The results set up ODFL “for more aggressive pricing actions (with corresponding margin gains),” when demand improves, Rosa said.

ODFL’s stock price fell 5.5% in trading Wednesday, sliding nearly $11 a share to $188.67 a share.

Knight-Swift shares fell about 24 cents in after-hours trading, to $52.50 a share.

Read more here.