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WASHINGTON — The government should not only stop filling the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, but also consider releasing oil to help lower the price of diesel fuel, Dave Berry, chairman of the American Trucking Associations’ environmental and energy policy committee, told Congress last week.

Truckload carriers are slashing capacity at the highest rate in a decade in an effort to bring supply and demand into balance as fuel prices skyrocket and demand withers, according to industry experts.

An unprecedented wave of exports, mostly to Russia, has cushioned a downturn in the Class 8 used-truck business, which has been hurt by high fuel prices and a weak freight market, according to industry executives.

U.S. retail fuel prices continued to soar into uncharted territory last week, as the average price of diesel jumped another 8.4 cents to $4.143 a gallon and gasoline gained 11.9 cents to $3.508, the Department of Energy reported.

New home sales fell to a 17-year low in March, the Commerce Department said Thursday.

Durable goods orders fell 0.3% in March, though bookings excluding transportation orders increased, the Commerce Department said Thursday.

Truckload carrier Knight Transportation’s first-quarter profit fell to $11.4 million, or 13 cents a share, from $16.6 million, or 19 cents, a year ago.

Crude oil prices fell for the first time in four days Wednesday, a day after setting a closing-price record of more than $119 a barrel, Bloomberg reported.

I am interested in the feedback on fuel prices displayed in “Letters to the Editor.” Unfortunately, most of the letters did not focus on two salient facts affecting the price of oil. The first is the dismal exchange rate of the U.S. dollar versus the euro, and the second is world demand for petroleum products.

The federal government’s Transportation Workers Identification Credential enrollment began Wednesday at three U.S. ports: Chattanooga, Tenn.; LaPorte, Texas; and Portsmouth, N.H.