United Parcel Service Inc , the world's largest package delivery company, reported an in-line quarterly profit on Thursday and gave a weak outlook for the current quarter, but said its domestic and global businesses appeared to be stabilizing.

The Atlanta-based company said second-quarter net income fell to $445 million, or 44 cents a share, from $873 million, or 85 cents a share, a year earlier.

Excluding an aftertax charge of $48 million, earnings per share totaled 49 cents, matching analyst predictions.

Revenue fell to $10.8 billion from $13.0 billion a year ago. Analysts expected $11.1 billion.

In premarket trading, UPS shares were down nearly 3 percent at $50.76.

Like its main rival FedEx Corp , UPS is considered a bellwether of U.S. economic activity.

In a statement UPS Chief Financial Officer Kurt Kuehn said the economic environment remained difficult.

Declines in both our domestic and international businesses appear to be stabilizing but volumes will remain significantly below last year's levels, he said. Although declines in economic indicators are less dramatic than earlier in the year, questions remain as to when business activity will begin to strengthen.

The company looks for third-quarter earnings per share ranging from 45 cents to 55 cents, versus the analyst view of 59 cents.

Last month, FedEx reported a wider quarterly loss and predicted the next two quarters would be extremely difficult, but added that the pace of economic decline appeared to be slowing.

Fedex Down