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Stephen Neal, chief executive officer of K. Neal International Trucks Inc., said June 4 was “quite a day” for his Hyattsville, Md., dealership. After all, it’s not every day that the commander-in-chief drops in to walk the showroom and discuss the nation’s economic recovery.

WASHINGTON — Carriers will have difficulty expanding capacity cut last year after manufacturers and retailers slashed spending for transportation services, the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals said last week.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has proposed reducing the amount of evidence fleets must maintain in order to verify their drivers’ hours-of-service logbooks.

Flatbed trucking, which has been battered by declines in manufacturing and construction during the recession, is finally showing sustained signs of improvement, with better volumes leading to freight-rate increases, carriers and their shippers have said.

The U.S. retail diesel average dropped 3.4 cents to $2.946 a gallon last week, the fourth weekly decrease in a row that has lowered trucking’s main fuel by 18.1 cents a gallon, the Department of Energy reported.

The U.S. trade deficit widened in April to the highest level in more than a year as exports declined, the Commerce Department said Thursday.

Initial jobless claims dropped by 3,000 last week, the Labor Department said Thursday.

The Department of Transportation’s freight transportation services index rose 4.8% in April from a year ago, marking the second consecutive increase.