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Filings for U.S. unemployment benefits rose to a four-week high at year’s end, amid holidays that tend to make the figures more volatile and a partial government shutdown that may have spurred federal workers to request funds.

Infrastructure funding is once again in danger of being overshadowed by another "I" word in Washington. Here's the week ahead for trucking on Capitol Hill.

Manufacturing gauges across the world’s largest economies stumbled at the end of last year, starting 2019 with fresh challenges for global growth and central banks.

The projected $2.70 a gallon pump price for 2019 is 3 cents lower than 2018 levels, although this year’s high could reach $3 as soon as May and top $4 in some cities, according to GasBuddy’s Price Fuel Outlook. The lower prices have not escaped Trump’s attention, who equated them to a tax cut in a tweet Jan. 1.

For minimum-wage earners, port truckers, farm laborers, sexual harassment victims, nursing mothers, high-powered female executives and workers injured on the job, 2019 offers reason to celebrate. A score of new state laws took effect on Jan. 1, expanding the rights of many employees while placing fresh restrictions on businesses.

The U.S. average retail price of diesel dropped 2.9 cents to $3.048 a gallon, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported, as crude oil prices hovered around $45 per barrel.

Tesla Inc. plunged in early trading Jan. 2 after delivering fewer Model 3 sedans than analysts expected in the fourth quarter and cutting prices to partially make up for the federal tax credit that’s been halved in the U.S.

Crowley Maritime Corp. has announced it will combine its Defense Freight Transportation Services contract management group with other government services under its Crowley Solutions business units.

Major parts of the U.S. government will remain shuttered for a 12th day as President Donald Trump invited congressional leaders from both parties to a White House briefing Jan. 2 on border security.

The U.S. may be exporting natural gas at a record clip, but that hasn’t stopped it from accepting new imports. A tanker with fuel from Nigeria is sitting near the Cove Point import terminal in Maryland, while a second ship with Russian gas is idling outside Boston Harbor.