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Despite fuel prices zooming toward the outer edge of our galaxy, ours is a nation of crowded highways and busy people who don’t like trucks getting in their way.

Less-than-truckload carrier YRC Worldwide said it named Phil Gaines president of its Yellow Transportation unit, and Ken Bowman senior vice president of finance.

YRC Worldwide will begin testing hybrid trucks this year as part of a corporate commitment to sustainability and said it will save as much as $40 million annually by streamlining its service network to speed up transit times.

U.S. consumer confidence gained slightly but remained near a 28-year low this month, according to the Reuters/University of Michigan monthly consumer sentiment index released Friday.

The price of goods imported to the United States jumped 2.6% in June, the Labor Department said Friday.

The U.S. trade deficit narrowed by 1.2% in May, as a cheaper U.S. dollar spurred more exports, the Commerce Department said Friday.

The average retail price of diesel jumped 8.2 cents to $4.727 a gallon last week, more than wiping out the entire 7.8-cent drop in the price of trucking’s main fuel over the previous five weeks, the Department of Energy reported July 7.

WASHINGTON — Representatives of trucking and shippers urged Congress to increase truck size and weight limits, but the chairman of the House transportation committee said he opposed longer combination vehicles and had doubts about raising weight limits.