Fed Lowers Interest Rates for Second Time in 2001

The Federal Reserve cut interest rates again last week, its second rate cut in January, in an effort to bring the U.S. economy out of its tailspin. Analysts expect the economy will start to rebound by midyear, with trucking companies among the early beneficiaries of reinvigorated growth.

Energy prices remain a wild card, however, and analysts noted that improvement of trucking companies’ bottom lines depends not only on increased demand, but also on lower fuel prices.

“The fundamentals for the trucking industry today are lousy. Fuel is expensive and the economy continues to slow,” said Donald Broughton, an analyst with A.G. Edwards in St Louis.

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