FedEx Gears Up for Busiest Day of 2010

FedEx (FDX) is gearing up its busiest day of the year, confident that holiday shopping will help push traffic above its 2009 peak.

The Memphis, Tenn.- based shipping giant, expects to handle about 16 million packages worldwide today, according to The Wall Street Journal. That's nearly 13% higher than its busiest day in 2009.

Last month, FedEx CEO Fred Smith said he was ""optimistic about the volumes during the holiday shipping season."

UPS (UPS) is less bullish, saying shipments could be flat at 24 million shipments on Dec. 22, which it says will be its busiest day.

Still, the Atlanta-based company expects full-season volume to be up about 7.5% from last year, at about 430 million packages.