FedEx anticipates record-breaking peak season, warns of trade tensions

During FedEx’s FY Q1 2019 earnings call yesterday, CEO Fred Smith said the company is anticipating record-breaking volume during this year’s peak season. The positive news follows the company’s announcement last week that it will expand its U.S. ground operations to six days a week in response increased demand for e-commerce – this, despite current volatile trade relations with major U.S. trade partners.

Adjusted operating income for the quarter was $1.2 billion, a 9.2 percent increase from $1.1 billion during the same period last year. Net income came in at $835 million for the quarter from $596 million – a 40 percent increase.

Smith also weighed in on the rise of U.S. protectionist policies, commenting, “History is very, very clear – that countries that pursue the most open markets are the ones that prosper the most and whose citizens’ income increases the most. Mercantilism does not work.”