FedEx Corp. announced on Thursday that its fiscal second-quarter earnings dropped 6 percent especially due to the increase of fuel costs and the weakening U.S. economy overshadowed international growth.

With this occasion, the company also made public the third-quarter outlook, which is under the forecasts made by Wall Street's specialist.

In the quarter that ended on November 30, FedEx earned $479 million, or $1.54 per share, compared with a year-ago profit of $511 million, or $1.64 per share. In 2006 during the same period, the company’s revenues rose 6 percent to $9.45 billion from $8.93 billion.

According to a survey made by Thomson Financial, most analysts were predicting a profit of $1.50 per share on revenue of $9.32 billion.

"High fuel prices and weak U.S. economic growth year over year have impacted our business. We continue to benefit from solid international growth, which helps mitigate softness in U.S. industrial production. While we see challenging near-term economic trends, we remain confident about long-term prospects in all our business segments." said Frederick W. Smith, FedEx Corp. chairman, president and chief executive.

For this year’s third quarter, FedEx anticipates to earn $1.15 to $1.30 per share, weighed against $1.35 per share a year-ago.

Just like its principal rival in the U.S., United Parcel Service Inc, FedEx is regarded as a bellwether of U.S. economic activity. This fact is mainly based on the principle according to which a growing economy leads to more packages being sent.

Union Pacific Corp, the leading U.S. railroad, also announced on Wednesday that it had lowered its fourth-quarter forecast due to the swift rise in the cost of diesel fuel.