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New housing starts fell to a record low in January, the Commerce Department said Wednesday.

The price of goods imported to the United States fell for a sixth straight month in January on lower commodity costs, declining 1.1%, the Labor Department said Wednesday.

The Environmental Protection Agency will hold a public hearing March 5 on a 2007 decision to deny California a waiver allowing the state to implement its own greenhouse gas emission standards for automobiles and light trucks.

Manufacturing growth in New York state contracted this month at the fastest pace on record, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York said Tuesday.

RENTON, Wash. — In the struggle to squeeze a few more miles out of each tank of fuel, truck makers are designing tractors with the aid of computer models and wind tunnels more generally used to tweak race cars or airplanes.

The Motor & Equipment Manufacturers Association and Original Equipment Suppliers Associations are discussing the plight of the automobile industry with President Obama’s administration, the Treasury Department and members of Congress as the federal government advances plans to disburse funds from emergency financial relief legislation approved last year.

Two key safety indicators improved to their best-ever levels during 2007, according to data just released by the Department of Transportation and analyzed by Transport Topics.

Congress late last week was poised to pass a $789 billion economic stimulus package, which included less guaranteed funding for roads and bridges than industry officials had hoped for, but it also contained money for diesel engine retrofits and a tax break for buying new equipment.

Driven by a freight-scarce economy, abundant fuel inventories and predictions of continuing economic distress, the average price of U.S. retail diesel drifted down another 2.7 cents a gallon to $2.219 last week, its fourth straight decline and the 28th in the past 30 weeks.

ARLINGTON, Va. — A top Navistar Inc. official said the company is pursuing its own solution to meet the 2010 U.S. emission standards, because it doesn’t believe the fuel savings claimed by competitors will justify the higher costs and more complicated systems associated with the new engines.