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The number of Americans filing initial applications for unemployment insurance fell by 10,000 to 318,000 for the week ended March 12, the Labor Department reported Thursday.

Frozen Food Express Industries Inc. said its fourth-quarter profit was $1.8 million or 10 cents a share, up from $0.7 million or 4 cents a year earlier.

In a 51-49 vote, the Senate Wednesday endorsed President Bush’s plan to drill for oil in protected environmental areas in Alaska, news services reported.

Logistics provider AutoInfo Inc. reported net income for 2004 of $1.5 million or 4 cents a share, compared with $1.3 million or 5 cents in 2003.

Light sweet crude oil futures receded to close at $56.40 Thursday after rising above $57 a barrel in intraday trading for the first time, Bloomberg reported.

The Internal Revenue Service issued guidance Tuesday intended to help truck dealers determine whether a truck body is subject to federal excise tax.

Mystic Tank Lines Corp. said Wednesday it filed a reorganization plan to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy, which it had filed for last June.

Production at U.S. factories, mines and utilities rose 0.3% in February, the Federal Reserve reported Wednesday.

Crude oil closed at a record high $56.46 a barrel Wednesday following a Department of Energy report showed U.S. gasoline inventories fell more than expected last week, news services reported.

The U.S. trade deficit soared to an all-time high of $665.9 billion in 2004, the Commerce Department reported Wednesday.