United Parcel Service Inc. says weak global trade and a disappointing holiday-shopping season slowed it down in the fourth quarter.
Profit in the last three months of 2012 fell short of Wall Street expectations. So did UPS’s outlook for this year as the company took a cautious approach toward the global economy.
UPS also forecast a “relatively flat” first quarter. The company’s shares dropped 2.4 percent on Thursday.
“Overall we still see 2013 as a slow-growth economy,” Chairman and CEO D. Scott Davis said Thursday on a conference call with analysts.
Davis said Europe was more stable than a year ago, and “in the U.S., I think we got off to a strong start in January.” But, he added, “We’re not banking on a robust economy.”
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