FedEx has lowered its expectations for 2009 as company CEO Fred Smith said FedEx is experiencing some of the worst economic conditions in the company’s history. Right now, FedEx has a hiring freeze in place, and has stopped 401(k) contributions for one year. Upper management will also get a 10% pay decrease starting in January and CEO Fred Smith will see a 20% decrease in his salary. I also firstly reported on Dec 9 that FedEx already decreased expectations for 09 and increased its rates to offset costs. The FedEx stock is up over 1% as FedEx met Q4 08 expectations with a higher net profit as costs were offset by lower fuel costs. Interestingly, crude is now trading at $38.5 a barrel as shown on the sidebar.