An initial round of second-quarter trucking earnings from J.B. Hunt Transport Services Inc. and Marten Transport Ltd., showed modestly higher results last week, which may signal a trend for the industry.

Trucking profits showed signs of improvement last week, as reports of growing earnings came from the truckload and less-than-truckload sectors, as well as brokerage and leasing.

Second-quarter trucking earnings are expected to show that higher freight rates and lower fuel prices helped most publicly traded fleets notch better results than a year ago, analysts said.