by Calculated Risk on 7/23/2009 09:00:00 AM

UPS CEO opening comments on conference call:

“On our last call we told you economic conditions for the second quarter would be slightly worse than the first and UPS performance would reflect those conditions. And that's what happened. The results we announced today are a clear indication of the tough economic environment. As you're aware, the rates of decline of some key economic indicators, like GDP and industrial production, have slowed. Other indicators, like manufacturing and service sector indices, are exhibiting signs of improvement. Most forecasters are saying that we may be at the bottom. Whether or not we're at the bottom is not the main issue; what is important is how long we remain here and what type of recovery we will have. Remember, all these indicators are still well into negative territory, illustrating the challenges that lie ahead. We will continue to manage the Company under the assumption that the economy will stay at this level until definitive signs of improvement materialize.

UPS executives went on to say (paraphrasing) that 1) trends in July have shown no improvement to date, 2) don’t have any confidence that trends or volumes will improve materially in Q3, 3) economy sitting here at this bottom.