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An index of leading economic indicators declined 0.3% in March, the New York-based Conference Board said Monday.

Standing beside Mexico President Felipe Calderon, U.S. President Obama said he was hopeful the two countries could agree on a cross-border trucking program that has spurred a growing trade dispute.

Rising costs for container fees, administrative expenses and environmental requirements in the midst of an economic downturn are causing shippers, importers and retailers to consider alternatives to the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach for shipping their goods, according to trade association officials.

Privatizing toll roads may give cash-strapped states a quick budget fix, but such deals, especially for existing highways, “pose long-term threats to the public interest,” according to a new study by an advocacy group.

Most of the 300 Sterling Trucks dealers in the United States and Canada accepted settlement offers from Daimler Trucks North America after DTNA announced it would shut the brand down, the Sterling board member of the American Truck Dealers said April 9.

Common wisdom has long maintained that truck dealers make more money from parts and service than from new vehicle sales. But the economic reality today is challenging even that old maxim.

YRC Worldwide Inc. said it is negotiating with the Teamsters union and its pension fund representatives to postpone cash payments into the plan and replace them with real estate collateral as part of the company’s ongoing effort to conserve cash.

Competition among construction firms is sharply reducing the cost of infrastructure projects, allowing states to build and repair more roads and bridges than originally anticipated under the federal stimulus legislation, President Obama said last week.

A federal judge ruled that Norfolk Southern Corp. can continue operating an ethanol-transfer station in Alexandria, Va., overruling a local ordinance, Bloomberg reported.

U.S. consumer confidence rose this month to the highest level since September, according to the Reuters/University of Michigan’s preliminary monthly consumer sentiment index released Friday.