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LAS VEGAS — Domestic trucking should continue to benefit from a decent economy this year and into 2013, and truck makers are looking at steady global economies — with the crucial exception of Europe, economists and analysts said here at a heavy-duty industry meeting.

President Obama in his State of the Union address Tuesday cited the need for more infrastructure, saying that “so much of American needs to be rebuilt.”

WASHINGTON — The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration will move forward with a host of developing rules and regulations regarding trucking this year, Administrator Anne Ferro said Tuesday.

Retail diesel prices increased for the second week in a row, rising 2.6 cents to $3.854 a gallon, the Department of Energy reported last week.

The federal government’s chief truck overseer defended her agency’s controversial changes to the 34-hour restart provisions of the hours-of-service rule and vowed to continue efforts to cut the hours drivers may be behind the wheel.

A controversial 34-hour restart provision in the new hours-of-service rule will help ensure that truck drivers do not experience cumulative fatigue, Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration Administrator Anne Ferro told Transport Topics.

Consumer confidence climbed this month to its highest level in eight months, according to the Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan consumer sentiment index released Friday.

The U.S. trade deficit expanded by 10.4% in November as exports declined to a four-month low, the Commerce Department said Friday.

The nation’s roads and bridges are still ailing, as Congress and the White House continue to fiddle while we await some concrete action on infrastructure funding.