ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø

The Conference Board said Tuesday its index of U.S. consumer confidence declined to 97.7 in April from a revised 103 in March.

The oversight board of the New York Thruway voted to raise tolls on the highway for the first time since 1988 as part of a $2.6 billion highway improvement program, the New York Times reported Tuesday.

Sales of existing homes rose 1% in March to an annual rate of 6.89 million, and prices surged to a record, the National Association of Realtors said Wednesday.

Navistar International Corp. said Monday it had adjusted its earnings downward for its first quarter ended Jan. 31 to $18 million or 24 cents a share, from a previously reported $20 million or 27 cents.

Arkansas Best Corp., parent of less-than-truckload carrier ABF Freight System, said Monday it earned $10.5 million or 41 cents a share in the first quarter, up from $4.5 million or 18 cents last year.

Flatbed carrier Smithway Motor Xpress Corp. reported Monday that its first-quarter net income rose to $503,000 or 10 cents a share, from $335,000 or 7 cents a year earlier.

The average retail price of regular gasoline fell 4.46 cents between April 8 and Friday to $2.24 a gallon, according to the latest Lundberg Survey of filling stations nationwide.

Oil filter manufacturers, whose replacement products generate some of the highest brand loyalty among truck operators, said they are making dramatic changes to manage the additional soot expected to be produced by new diesel engines coming in 2007.

The Environmental Protection Agency said representatives from trucking companies and associations would meet with state and local environmental agencies May 6 in Baltimore for the first in a series of meetings to develop a model idling law governing heavy-duty trucks and buses.