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Norfolk Southern Corp. reported the best year-over-year improvement in first-quarter rail industry earnings, boosting net income 25% to $387 million, or $1.29 per share, helped by expense reductions and improved results for commodity groups, particularly automotive shipments.

Three major truckload carriers reported weaker first-quarter results in the challenging freight market.

A sluggish U.S. economy and a surplus of freight capacity are creating little optimism about first-quarter earnings reports that begin arriving this week from publicly traded carriers, analysts said.

Despite the excellent results, FedEx Corp. management still had to answer questions about the e-commerce giant and the potential for it to encroach on the package shipper's territory as Amazon makes plans to build out its own delivery capabilities.

Heavy-duty truck and engine makers reported earnings for the fourth quarter and the year that show the North American market starting to ease, Europe on the rise and the rest of the world showing difficulties.

Industry suppliers Rush Enterprises Inc. and Allison Transmission Holdings Inc. said net income and revenue dropped in the fourth quarter and that they were taking a guarded approach to 2016.