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U.S. consumer confidence has improved to the highest level since September, according to the Reuters/University of Michigan monthly consumer sentiment index released Friday.

The consumer price index was unchanged in April, though prices excluding food and fuel rose, the Labor Department said Friday.

Manufacturing activity in the New York region contracted the least since August this month, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York said Friday.

SAN DIEGO — A “perfect storm” of a nose-diving economy, high fuel prices and governmental missteps have all combined to ravage the trucking industry and the companies that supply its equipment, according to Jim Hebe, senior vice president of North American sales for Navistar Inc.

YRC Worldwide Inc. said last week it was talking with lenders about a possible third renegotiation of its credit agreement, and that it had deferred almost $40 million in pension-fund payments.

The debate over future surface transportation policy is likely to be directed by Congress, rather than the Obama administration, several industry lobbyists said following the recent release of nu-merous documents.

BOSTON — Volvo Trucks joined the argument over allowing longer, heavier trucks on U.S. highways, saying Congress should allow them on the interstate system to relieve congestion, increase productivity, conserve fuel and cut greenhouse gas emissions.

Intermodal freight volume declined 16% in the first quarter of 2009 from a year earlier, in part because of stiffer truck competition for trailer shipments, the Intermodal Association of North America reported.