Business

Factory orders jumped 2.4% in December on higher demand for business equipment, motor vehicles and aircraft, the Commerce Department said Friday.

U.S. consumer confidence rose to a two-year high in January, according to the University of Michigan’s monthly consumer sentiment index released said Friday.

Specialty truck maker Oshkosh Truck Corp.’s fiscal first-quarter profit fell to $41.2 million or 55 cents a share, from $53.1 million or 72 cents a year earlier, the company said Friday.

Patriot Transportation Holding reported net income of $2.2 million or 69 cents a share for its fiscal first quarter, up from $1.9 million or 62 cents a year earlier.

Big thunderstorms and tornadoes blew through central Florida Friday, killing as many as 19 people and causing accidents on interstates, including one that tossed a tractor-trailer airborne, news reports said.

Less-than-truckload carrier Saia Inc. said Thursday it has acquired Wisconsin-based LTL company Madison Freight Systems for about $2.5 million.

There were an estimated 3,336 for-hire trucking companies based in Canada with annual revenues of $1 million or more in the second quarter of 2006, almost unchanged from the same quarter in 2005, Statistics Canada said Thursday.

The Institute for Supply Management’s January manufacturing index showed a contraction, as factories reined in orders to trim inventories, ISM said Thursday.

Truckload carrier Landstar System’s fourth-quarter net income fell to $28.7 million or 50 cents a share, from $41.8 million or 70 cents a year earlier.

Less-than-truckload carrier Old Dominion Freight Line’s fourth-quarter profit rose 21.5% to $17.8 million or 48 cents a share, from $14.7 million or 39 cents a year earlier.