FedEx: “We expect sluggish economic growth will continue.”

Thanks to Mike Buteau for Tweeting his Bloomberg colleague Natalie Doss's story on FedExCup sponsor FedEx's reduction of its full year earnings forecast.

FedEx, an economic bellwether that delivers goods ranging from mobile devices to financial documents, saw U.S. shipments fall for the second quarter in a row as the economy grew at a lower rate than it estimated. Demand dropped for Asian technology products, especially from China, hurting the express international division.

“From talking to our customers, -- the retailers, the manufacturers and so forth -- the primary driver of the reduced demand is the lower sales of electronic products,” Chief Executive Officer Fred Smith said on a conference call. “We expect sluggish economic growth will continue.”

FedEx fell $6.35, or 8.8 percent, to $66.15 at 11:49 a.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading, after touching $64.55, for the biggest intraday decline since Dec. 9, 2008. Rival United Parcel Service Inc. (UPS) slipped 2.6 percent to $62.70. FedEx had declined 22 percent this year through yesterday, while UPS dropped 11 percent.