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The Department of Transportation has created a team to coordinate its role in President Obama’s economic recovery program, to ensure that funding is made available quickly for transportation infrastructure projects and that project spending is monitored and transparent.

Interstate Bakeries Corp. has emerged from bankruptcy after four years of operating under Chapter 11 protection, agreeing to a plan that gives financial control to New York investment firm Ripplewood Holdings and a group of the company’s lenders, news services reported.

U.S. factory orders fell 3.9% in December, the fifth consecutive month of decline, the Commerce Department said Thursday.

Fourth-quarter U.S. worker productivity increased at a 3.2% annual rate, the Labor Department said Thursday.

The U.S. Postal Service lost $384 million its first quarter, it said Wednesday.

The U.S. economy’s service sector contracted in January but at a lower rate than previously reported, the Institute for Supply Management said Tuesday.

Transportation software firm Xata Corp. said Wednesday it lost $716,000, or 8 cents a share, in its fiscal first quarter, compared with a loss of $1.1 million, or 14 cents, a year ago.

Construction spending fell 1.4% in December, the Commerce Department said Monday.

Manufacturing in the U.S. contracted in January for the 12th straight month, the Institute for Supply Management said Monday.