Year to date, The Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway Company, a subsidiary of Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corporation (BNI), has created 23 new intermodal services and established improved performance transit times on 45 different lanes. Burlington Northern is expanding its intermodal terminals in order to better serve its customers.

An intermodal terminal is a railroad facility designed for the loading and unloading of containers and trailers to and from flat cars for movement on the railroad and subsequent movement on the street or highway. Intermodal freight transport reduces cargo handling and so improves security, reduces damages and losses, and allows freight to be transported faster.

In addition to improved intermodal service on the mainline, BNSF is also updating intermodal customer service online by adding new tools that help customers identify specific offerings to best meet their needs.

Earlier this month, competitor Norfolk Southern Corporation (NSC) announced that it has

...

Stock performance in the transportation sector has been very uneven, reflecting the varying fortunes of particular industries within the sector. The median year-to-date-stock price gain/(loss) has been mixed for industries in the Zacks transportation universe -- all industries are underperforming the S&P 500's 0.7% increase, with the exception of air freight. Air freight has been helped by large gains in smaller companies as the giants within the air freight sector, United Parcel Service, Inc. (...

Stock performance in the transportation sector has been very uneven, reflecting the varying fortunes of particular industries within the sector. The median year-to-date-stock price gain/(loss) has been mixed for industries in the Zacks transportation universe -- all industries are underperforming the S&P 500's 0.7% increase, with the exception of air freight. Air freight has been helped by large gains in smaller companies as the giants within the air freight sector, United Parcel Service, Inc. (...

Stock performance in the transportation sector has been very uneven, reflecting the varying fortunes of particular industries within the sector. The median year-to-date-stock price gain/(loss) has been mixed for industries in the Zacks transportation universe -- all industries are underperforming the S&P 500’s 0.7% increase, with the exception of air freight. Air freight has been helped by large gains in smaller companies as the giants within the air freight sector, United Parcel Service, Inc. (UPS) and FedEx Corporation (FDX), are down 4.3% and 15.7% year to date, respectively. Air Freight 17.3% Equipment & Leasing 0.5% Trucking (0.7)% Shipping (0.9)% Railroads (3.8)% Airlines (32.8)% Among the hardest hit have been airlines and railroads (see the Analyst Blog by Dirk van Dijk, entitled Recovery Derailed?), where demand is dropping precipitously, reflecting ...

On Wednesday, we sold Apollo Group, Inc. (APOL) from both the Focus List and the Timely Buys List. We locked in a 3-month gain of about 15% on the Focus List. A small loss was realized on the Timely Buys position. Our rationale for selling the stock was based on the current market environment and our unwillingness to take unnecessary risks. Last week, Apollo Group revealed in its 10-Q (a quarterly report required by the SEC) that a new lawsuit had been filed against it. The company stated: On December 9, 2008, three former University of Phoenix students filed a complaint against Apollo Group, Inc. and The University of Phoenix, Inc. in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas. The complaint alleges that with regard to students who dropped from their courses shortly after enrolling, University of Phoenix improperly returned the entire amount of ...

Highlighted stocks include: Alcoa Inc. (...