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UPS Inc. raised second-quarter earnings to $1.12 billion, with help from its less-than-truckload unit, but the biggest parcel and freight carrier warned that its second-half profit will be diminished by a weakening U.S. economy.

U.S. retail diesel and gasoline prices rose for the third straight week, taking back more of the substantial cost drops that dominated the second quarter of the year, the Department of Energy reported July 23.

Changes announced in December to the federal hours-of-service rule rely on a “sham” of an analysis and unjustifiable assumptions, American Trucking Associations told a federal court last week, urging the court to overturn the provisions of the rule that restrict the 34-hour restart and require an off-duty break.

The U.S. Government Accountability Office has notified four interstate tolling authorities in New York, New Jersey, Delaware and Pennsylvania that it has launched an inquiry into how they decide to raise tolls and how they spend the money.

New engine technologies and improved aerodynamics have yielded significant fuel efficiency gains for carriers running post-2010 heavy-duty trucks, but some fleet executives said they are encountering some new maintenance issues.

Trucking bankruptcies reached their lowest level in at least 25 years during the second quarter as freight demand and pricing remained strong enough to sustain virtually every fleet, a new Avondale Partners report said.

The severe drought that has devastated farmers and cattlemen from Montana to Texas and from Kentucky to Colorado is now set to hit trucking companies that haul grain and soybeans, industry officials said.

The rate of growth in freight in the United States slowed again in June, mirroring the weakening recovery in the overall economy, according to a key market barometer.

Covenant Transportation Group’s second-quarter net income rose to $4.3 million, or 29 cents per share, from $1.7 million, or 11 cents, a year earlier.

Canadian transportation firm Mullen Group said its second-quarter profit declined, primarily foreign exchange-rate accounting, though operating income rose 9%.