Railroad Stocks Up Despite Dire Forecasts

The news on railroads has been bad for weeks.

When freights are down, as reported by the Association of American Railroads just last week, you know railroad companies are hurting. The trade group said freights fell 25.8% for the week ending May 9, and railroad stocks tumbled afterward. Even this morning, it was reported that Union Pacific CEO Jim Young told a roomful of investors not to expect freight volumes to rebound any time soon.

So, what did traders do today? Move the biggest railroaders into positive territory, of course.

On a slow trading day before the holiday weekend, marked by otherwise choppy and uneven trading, shares for five of the biggest railroaders held on to their gains.

The biggest railroader of them all, Union Pacific(UNP Quote)(UNP), saw its share price go up 15 cents to close at $46.16.

Other railroad stocks in positive territory reads like a who's who of the industry. Burlington Northern Santa Fe(BNI Quote) closed up 67 cents to $68.17. Norfolk Southern(NSC Quote) changed hands up 2.27% by the end of the day, or 78 cents, finishing the day at $35.21. CSX(CSX Quote), which announced some layoffs just a few weeks ago, landed at $28.16 at closing, an improvement of 5 cents. Meanwhile one of the biggest railroad movers of the day, Canadian National Railway(CNI Quote), finished the day at $41.39, a solid increase of 2.88%, or $1.16.