The US freight recession is displaying no indicators of relenting

• Shares of J.B. Hunt slid as a lot as 9% on Wednesday after a combined earnings report.

• Its first-quarter outcomes recommended that trucking demand stays weak.

• Tariffs are anticipated so as to add to the business downturn.

Shares of a number one trucking agency are tanking after its first-quarter earnings outcomes signaled no finish to the freight recession.

J.B. Hunt’s inventory dropped as a lot as 9% on Wednesday after the agency reported an 8% lower in working earnings from the 12 months prior. Whereas the corporate modestly beat earnings and income estimates, its earnings per share have been down 4%.

That is doubtless a painful sight for a freight market hoping for a trucking revival. Executives on the bellwether agency signaled continued dismay over the freight recession, the place weak demand and too many vans have been a downside since 2023.

“I’ve by no means seen a recession final three years. I feel everybody’s holding on,” J.B. Hunt CEO Shelley Simpson stated on an earnings name. “It’s a very tough surroundings that we’re working in, and I feel everybody’s making an attempt to adapt to it.”

Though falling prices have been a silver lining in earlier business recessions, inflation is including to the issue, she stated.

In the meantime, the Trump administration’s robust tariffs are anticipated so as to add to the multiyear downturn. Tariffs have grow to be a significant speaking level throughout the business, and the truck-making agency Traton has stated international commerce uncertainty is pushing US truckers to defer orders.

J.B. Hunt can also be waiting for tariff reactions.

“Our clients proceed to plan for a number of what-if eventualities, however most of them are ready for the mud to settle to find out how tariffs would possibly affect and alter their short- and long-term enterprise methods,” Spencer Frazier, its government vp of gross sales and advertising, stated.

“As a part of this situation planning course of, some clients are contemplating methods to change provide chain freight flows and/or their country-of-origin sourcing, however these modifications shall be a part of a for much longer resolution course of,” he added.

In an April be aware, JPMorgan analysts took a cautious view on the transport sector amid the mounting commerce struggle and rising recession dangers. It stated trucking overcapacity remained an enormous headwind:

“Web new additions since 2020 created ~18% capability that may take 15 years to normalize at present 2025 YTD exit charges,” the be aware stated.

Correction: April 16, 2025 — An earlier model of this story misspelled the identify of Spencer Frazier.

Learn the unique article on Enterprise Insider