°®¶¹´«Ã½

An index of leading economic indicators improved by 1.4% in March by the most in 10 months, the New York-based Conference Board said Monday.

The huge ash cloud hanging over Europe from last week’s volcano eruption in Iceland is hampering global air freight and causing a shift in European cargo from planes to trucks, news services reported.

Several notices pointing toward recovery in trucking and the economy at large are one pleasant side of the news last week.

U.S. consumer confidence held fell this month to its lowest level in five months, according to the latest Reuters/University of Michigan monthly consumer sentiment index released Friday.

The U.S. economy improved in most of the Federal Reserve’s 12 districts in March, with the transportation sector improving in most areas, the Fed said.

Manufacturing levels in the Philadelphia region expanded in March at the fastest pace in four months, the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia said Thursday.

The Department of Transportation’s freight transportation services index for February fell 2% from a year earlier but rose from January, DOT said.

The New York State Department of Transportation told a transportation task force that it will no longer pursue efforts to restrict trucks from using certain rural routes in the Finger Lakes area, American Trucking Associations said.

The consumer price index rose 0.1% in March, the Labor Department said Wednesday.

RAIR, which provides compliance and safety services for the trucking industry, said it will provide carriers with free monthly Comprehensive Safety Analysis scorecards in response to the FMCSA’s change in the timeline for implementing CSA 2010.