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Hundreds of truck drivers descended on Washington Monday to protest high diesel prices, WRC-4 television reported on its Web site.

U.S. retail fuel prices continued to soar into uncharted territory last week, as the average price of diesel jumped another 8.4 cents to $4.143 a gallon and gasoline gained 11.9 cents to $3.508, the Department of Energy reported.

An unprecedented wave of exports, mostly to Russia, has cushioned a downturn in the Class 8 used-truck business, which has been hurt by high fuel prices and a weak freight market, according to industry executives.

Truckload carriers are slashing capacity at the highest rate in a decade in an effort to bring supply and demand into balance as fuel prices skyrocket and demand withers, according to industry experts.

Eastern freight railroad Norfolk Southern Corp. said its first-quarter profit rose 2%, as higher revenue per shipment offset an overall drop in traffic and record fuel prices.

Crude oil prices fell for the first time in four days Wednesday, a day after setting a closing-price record of more than $119 a barrel, Bloomberg reported.

I am interested in the feedback on fuel prices displayed in “Letters to the Editor.” Unfortunately, most of the letters did not focus on two salient facts affecting the price of oil. The first is the dismal exchange rate of the U.S. dollar versus the euro, and the second is world demand for petroleum products.

Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) has introduced legislation to lower the federal tax on diesel fuel, to make it on par with the gasoline tax.