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Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Dec. 29 blocked an attempt by Democrats to force quick action on increasing direct stimulus payments to $2,000 despite President Donald Trump’s demands for the change.

The Federal Reserve has delayed the termination of the Main Street Lending Program to Jan. 8, from Dec. 31, to finish processing loans submitted by a Dec. 14 deadline to tap its funds.

As the COVID-19 pandemic stretches into 2021, the trucking industry will continue to address coronavirus-related challenges while confronting issues that existed long before most people had ever touched a face mask.

Boeing Co.’s 737 Max is poised to return to commercial service in the U.S. with the first flight since two deadly crashes prompted the longest aircraft grounding in the nation’s history.

Oil advanced with support from a weaker dollar and expectations of declining U.S. crude inventories.

The House on Dec. 28 passed a bill replacing the $600 stimulus checks in the newly enacted virus relief bill with $2,000 payments, as Democrats and moderate Republicans voted in favor of a proposal backed by President Donald Trump.

The U.S. average retail price of diesel rose 1.6 cents to $2.635 a gallon and notched a new nine-month high after first reaching that peak a week earlier, the Energy Information Administration reported Dec. 28. The average price of diesel was $2.659 on March 23.

The trucking industry stands poised for a solid start in 2021, building on an unprecedented 2020 during which the U.S. economy relied heavily on truckers amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

A brief rally in crude oil deflated Dec. 28 as investors ignored a broader market surge that pushed equities to an all-time high and focused instead on looming new supply from OPEC+.

Robotics company Nuro announced Dec. 23 that it has acquired Ike Robotics Inc., which builds automated trucking technology.