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A year into the Obama administration, American Trucking Associations President Bill Graves said the trucking industry’s challenges are primarily regulatory, rather than legislative, because of the gridlock that has enveloped Congress since last year.

Diesel prices slipped for the fifth week in a row, dropping 1.3 cents to a national average of $2.756 a gallon, the U.S. Department of Energy said in its weekly fuel report.

U.S. Class 8 retail truck sales eked out their first year-over-year gain in 13 months in January, inching up 0.2% compared with January 2009, WardsAuto.com reported.

Manufacturing levels in the Philadelphia expanded in February at a highest pace in more than five years, the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia said Thursday.

An index of leading economic indicators improved for a tenth straight month in January, the New York-based Conference Board said Thursday.

Prices paid to U.S. producers rose 1.4% in January, the Labor Department said Tuesday.

The Department of Transportation’s freight transportation services index for December fell 4.1% from a year earlier but did not change from November, DOT said Thursday.

Transportation and third-party logistics firm Pacer International said its fourth-quarter profit grew to $10 million, or 10 cents per share, compared with a $64 million loss, or $1.83 cents, a year earlier.

Housing starts rose 2.8% in January while building permits fell 4.9%, the Commerce Department said Wednesday.