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Connecticut’s truck inspections fell 20% to about 18,600 in 2007, compared with a year earlier, the Hartford Courant reported.

The nation’s fleet of heavy-duty trucks grew by just 1.4% a year during the first quarter, the slowest growth rate yet since the record sales year of 2006, as businesses bought fewer used and new vehicles, according to a survey of U.S. vehicle registration data by R.L. Polk & Co.

Heavy-truck manufacturers have refrained from cutting prices or offering large rebates and other significant incentives, partly because their sales overseas are strong and help offset a second straight year of falling domestic sales, analysts and dealers said.

Truck maker Navistar International Corp. took a substantial step toward completing its $410 million accounting odyssey with the May 29 filing of its fiscal 2007 annual report to the Securities and Exchange Commission, marking the first time the company has been up to date since 2005.

The U.S. average diesel price took a break last week from its dizzying climb, dipping 1.6 cents a gallon to $4.707, the Department of Energy reported.

Crude oil jumped by a single-day record of more than $10 Friday close at a record $138.54 a barrel, marking an almost $16 increase over two days.

The U.S. unemployment rate jumped to 5.5% in May, from 5% in April, the biggest jump in 22 years, the Labor Department said Friday.

Global Positioning System location-finding and navigation services are generating increasing revenue as the satellite-based technology is embedded in a wider range of mobile devices, according to a report from the European firm ABI Research.