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Confidence among U.S. small businesses increased in January for the first time in three months as the outlook for sales improved, the National Federation of Independent Business reported.

China National Heavy Duty Trunk Group Co., that country’s largest heavy truck producer, sold 16,653 vehicles in January, up more than 300% from a year earlier, Bloomberg reported Tuesday.

The Obama administration last week proposed a $4 billion “down payment” on a national infrastructure bank to supplement traditional highway funding, as part of its $78.8 billion budget proposal for the Department of Transportation.

We almost made it through 2009 without another national news exposé of the trucking industry, but then came November and December. This time, the focus was on truck driver training and motor carrier employment practices.

Transportation and third-party logistics firm C.H. Robinson Worldwide reported a fourth-quarter profit of $87.7 million, or 52 cents a share, down slightly from $88.9 million, or 52 cents a share, a year ago.

Kansas City Southern said Thursday it earned $32 million, 33 cents a share, in its fourth quarter, compared with $36.4 million, or 40 cents, the previous year.

Gasoline’s national average price fell 1.4 cents over the past two weeks to an average $2.72 a gallon, according to the latest Lundberg Survey of fuel prices released Sunday.

The national diesel average declined 0.9 cent to $2.87 last week as pump prices moderated after a sharp spike the prior three weeks, the Department of Energy reported.