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China plans to ask the U.S. to lift sanctions on its biggest shipping company at high-level trade negotiations in Washington this week, people familiar with the matter said.

U.S. consumer comfort improved slightly last week as more upbeat assessments of the economy and buying climate were tempered by the weakest reading on personal finances in almost two months.

Applications for unemployment benefits in the U.S. unexpectedly declined to a three-week low despite a strike by General Motors Co. workers that continues to reverberate through supporting industries.

Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administrator Ray Martinez will be leaving his position at the end of October.

The United Auto Workers union’s strike against General Motors Co. may force credit raters to take action and move the company closer to junk status, according to Bloomberg Intelligence.

Even a brief blackout can be costly. Now California faces the experiment of finding what out happens economically when a modern metropolitan area goes without power — on purpose — for what could be days.

Drivers in the U.S. may one day no longer have to crane their necks to check their blind spots if regulators agree to let high-tech cameras and screens replace the humble side-view mirror.

NEW ORLEANS — Business was going quite well for family-owned Triple G Express Inc. during the summer of 2005, as the city best known for its 24-hour nightlife, vibrant live music scene and spicy Cajun cuisine also served as a great base of operations for the intermodal motor carrier and its decades-old less-than-truckload affiliate, Southeastern Motor Freight Inc.

Giant oceangoing tankers built the liquefied natural gas industry into a $150 billion-a-year business. The next expansion opportunity may come from ships a seventh of the normal size.