“And exports on our most profitable trade lane, which is China to the US, are not improving at the pace we had expected.”

In context

“n the market. We now expect consolidated revenue to be between $91.3 billion and $92.3 billion, and consolidated operating margin to be between 10.8% and 11.3%. Let me walk you through our assumptions for the guidance range. In the US, we are winning back volume at a rapid pace, but we've also seen demand softness due to several factors, with many of our customers who did not divert. Additionally, while consumer spending has been resilient in 2023, headwinds are mounting for the consumer in the fourth quarter, and looking at estimates for holiday retail sales this year, increases range from over 4% to 12%. Moving to international, a further downturn in exports and lower consumer spending in some of the largest European markets, including Germany and the UK are negatively impacting volume. And exports on our most profitable trade lane, which is China to the US, are not improving at the pace we had expected. Finally in forwarding, air and ocean capacity has increased, which is putting additional downward pressure on market rates. In fact, in ocean, there was extreme overcapacity versus demand in the market, and the forwarding demand outlook in the fourth quarter remains weak. Turning to capital allocation for the full-year, capital expenditures are still expected to be about $5.3 billion. We are still planning to pay out around $5.4 billion in dividends in 2023, subject to Board approval. We have repaid $1.6 billion in debt this year as planned, and expect to repay an additional EUR700 million of debt in the fourth quarter. We now expect $2.25 billion in share buybacks in 2023, which we have already completed. In the fourth quarter, we're redeploying cash, back into the business for growth in”