J.B. Hunt warns of earnings drop as diesel hits record high

J.B. Hunt warns of earnings drop as diesel hits record high

Wed, September 16, 2026 at 8:46 PM GMT+3 2 min read

• JBHT -12.45%

J.B. Hunt Transport Services warned Wednesday that its earnings will fall between 5% and 10% from the second to the third quarter as record diesel prices drive up costs across the trucking sector.

Brad Delco, J.B. Hunt's finance chief, told attendees at a Morgan Stanley industry conference that fuel costs had produced price swings unlike anything he could recall in his career, quoting him as saying the moves were "some of the most radical and abnormal swings in fuel prices that I think we've ever seen." J.B. Hunt stock shed more than 13% on Wednesday, a selloff severe enough to rank among the company's most damaging trading days in the four decades since its 1983 IPO.

Diesel's national average reached $6.31 a gallon on Wednesday, an all-time high, according to AAA. Compared with a year earlier, diesel has now risen by more than 70%, a jump that analysts tie to supply disruptions stemming from the U.S. war with Iran.

By midday Wednesday the Dow Jones Transportation Average was off more than 2%, with J.B. Hunt leading losses across the index.

Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, said the national average could climb past $6.50 within two days. Midwest states including Michigan, Ohio, and Illinois may see per-gallon diesel prices reach $7, according to CNBC.

Claude Elkins, chief commercial officer at railway operator Norfolk Southern, said at the same Morgan Stanley conference on Tuesday that California's diesel prices are already $8 a gallon — a figure he called "like science fiction." AAA figures show California's statewide diesel average has crossed $8 a gallon, a level that represents roughly a 20% increase over the preceding month. Elkins said he monitors the situation with "a very cautious eye," adding that prices at these levels will ultimately prove to be "a drag on the consumer out there."

Diesel prices crossed $6 a gallon for the first time on September 11, when AAA put the national average at $6.06. The fuel had already broken its previous all-time high of $5.81, set in June 2022, the week before that. The Iran war has pushed diesel prices higher in stages since the conflict began in late February, when the national average stood at $3.76 a gallon.

Two overlapping supply disruptions are driving the increase. The conflict has restricted tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, cutting crude flows and straining refinery output across the Middle East. Ukrainian drone attacks on Russian refining infrastructure prompted Moscow to ban diesel exports — a significant loss given Russia's historical role as one of the world's largest diesel exporters.

According to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, the transportation services sector made up more than 6% of total enhanced gross domestic product in 2024, generating $1.9 trillion for the U.S. economy.