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The head of the Canadian Trucking Alliance said an announcement by Prime Minister Stephen Harper that if re-elected he will cut the four cent per liter federal excise tax on diesel fuel in half was the right thing to do for the country’s truckers.

FedEx Corp. said late Tuesday its fiscal first-quarter earnings will exceed its earlier forecast, due in part to recent falling fuel costs, though it kept its full-year earnings forecast in place.

In the aftermath of Hurricane Gustav and Tropical Storm Hanna, EPA has exercised its authority under the Clean Air Act to temporarily waive certain federal clean fuel requirements for areas of Alabama, Georgia, and North Carolina until next Monday, Sept. 15.

Air and ocean freight forwarder UTi Worldwide said its net income for its 2009 fiscal second quarter ended July 31 rose to $33.7 million, or 33 cents a share, from $27.7 million, or 28 cents a year ago.

The color for 2009 medium- and light-duty trucks is green, as in environmentally friendly. There are no major changes to designs for the 2009 model year; like heavy-duty trucks, the next major changes will occur with the 2010 model year as manufacturers adapt to the next round of diesel emission standards.

The average price of retail diesel in the United States dipped 2.4 cents a gallon last week to $4.121, the seventh straight decline, even as Hurricane Gustav reached the Gulf Coast, the Department of Energy reported.

U.S. consumer confidence this month rose by the most in four years in September, according to the Reuters/University of Michigan’s preliminary monthly consumer sentiment index, released Friday.