** Shares of U.S. trucking firms rise after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell points to a possible rate cut at the U.S. central bank's September meeting

** Among truckload companies, J.B. Hunt JBHT.O rises 5.6%, Knight-Swift KNX.N up 6.1% and Schneider National SNDR.N up 4.4%

** In the less-than-truckload segment, Old Dominion Freight Line ODFL.O rises 6.1%, Saia SAIA.O up 8.1% and XPO XPO.N rises 6.7%

** Higher rates had prompted logistic companies to pause their plans of expanding fleets

** Shares of truckmaker Paccar PCAR.O also rise 3.8%

** S&P Transportation Select Industry index .SPXSTN up 0.9% YTD, vs an 8.3% rise in benchmark S&P 500 .SPX index

(Reporting by Abhinav Parmar in Bengaluru)

((Abhinav.Parmar@thomsonreuters.com;))