������ý

U.S. consumer confidence this month rose by the most in four years in September, according to the Reuters/University of Michigan’s preliminary monthly consumer sentiment index, released Friday.

A federal judge last week denied American Trucking Associations’ request for a preliminary injunction against controversial portions of emission-reduction programs at the California ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.

Astronomic fuel prices are only part of the economic drag on trucking these days. Add the growing length of time on accounts receivables, more customer bankruptcies and the tightening of credit by suppliers and lenders, and it’s easy to see how carriers’ cash flow has ebbed.

Fuel prices last week continued their slide from July’s record highs, as the U.S. retail average for diesel fuel dropped for an eighth straight week and gasoline for the ninth.

The head of the Canadian Trucking Alliance said an announcement by Prime Minister Stephen Harper that if re-elected he will cut the four cent per liter federal excise tax on diesel fuel in half was the right thing to do for the country’s truckers.

Crude oil prices continued to slide early Wednesday, even as Hurricane Ike intensified as it moved into the Gulf of Mexico and a top OPEC official said the cartel would trim an oversupplied market, Bloomberg reported.

Diesel fuel will average $4.09 this year, down 9 cents from a previous forecast, the Department of Energy said.

FedEx Corp. said late Tuesday its fiscal first-quarter earnings will exceed its earlier forecast, due in part to recent falling fuel costs, though it kept its full-year earnings forecast in place.