Transportation stocks are experiencing selling pressure Monday morning after Wachovia downgraded the stock of Werner Enterprises Inc. (WERN) and Knight Transportation Inc. (KNX). Rising oil prices also contributed to the sector-wide weakness.
Celadon Group Inc. (CLDN) posted one of the steepest losses, down about 8% each. Werner shares also were significantly on the down side, slumping about 7%.
Around 10:30 am Eastern Time, shares of Celadon were down $1.02 to $12.32 a share, while Werner stock was down $1.57 at $22.38.
Other stocks experiencing notable weakness include Saia Inc. (SAIA), Landstar System Inc. (LSTR), Heartland Express (HTLD) and Knight Transportation.
Before the opening bell on Monday, Wachovia lowered its rating on shares of Werner and Knight Transportation from "outperform" to "market perform."
Meanwhile, Crude oil moved above $115 again in early trading Monday morning. Light sweet crude traded at $115.10, up 51 cents on the session. Prices touched as high as $116.05 in electronic trading before paring most of its gains.
Traders looked ahead to Wednesday's inventory report from the Department of Energy. Last week's data showed U.S. commercial crude oil inventories increased by 9.4 million barrels in the week ended Aug. 15. However, motor gasoline inventories decreased by 6.2 million barrels in the week.
The dollar saw little movement versus other majors Monday morning in New York following the release of data showing that US existing home sales rose 3.1 percent in July, up from a decline of 2.6 percent in June. Median existing home prices slipped 7.1 percent on an annual basis to $212,400.
Late last week, Knight Transportation declared a dividend of 0.04 with a record date of September 5, 2008. The company also submitted a Letter of Intent to enroll in the Port of Los Angeles Clean Truck Program along with Swift Transportation.
In mid-July, Werner reported a decline in net earnings for the second quarter from the prior year year, hurt by higher expenses.
The company reported net income for the second quarter of $18.11 million or $0.25 per share, down from $22.25 million or $0.30 per share last year.
On average, 13 analysts polled by First Call/Thomson Financial expected the company to earn $0.20 per share for the quarter.The company's quarterly revenues increased 9% to $578.2 million from $531.3 million in the second quarter 2007. Analysts had a consensus revenue estimate of $548.44 million.
For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com
June 05, 2026 16:18 ET A busy week for economic news flow saw a slew of reports being released that reflected the trends in the U.S. labor market. In Europe, economic growth and inflation data gained attention as the European Central Bank and Bank of England head for policy session later in the month. In Asia, the monetary policy session of the Indian central bank was in focus as the country, a major oil importer, reels under the pressures of a weaker rupee and rising inflation.