The Pulse today starts with a riddle: Why would good fortune for FedEx also be good for one of its arch-competitors, the U.S. Postal Service?

FedEx said today it expects a record holiday shipping season with a forecast that shipments will be up 12 percent. According to the company, “Retail inventory such as apparel, personal consumer electronics and luxury goods as well as books and other items from large Internet retailers will account for a large portion of FedEx holiday volumes”

If FedEx is right, that means the economy is stronger than many had predicted coming out of the summer which is good news for the 18,000 people it says it’ll hire to handle packages during the holidays.

As for the Post Office’s connection here? While FedEx folks deliver lots of packages, it turns out FedEx also pays the post office to do the final delivery of quite a few parcels.

FedEx said it expects to move more than 17 million shipments on December 12, which would make the day its busiest ever.

News that FedEx–and by extension the US Postal Service– could have a decent holiday season makes the Pulse beat faster.