Government

Spurred by trucking industry leaders, more states this year are banning contracts that shift liability for any incident that occurs on a shipper’s premises to freight carriers, joining more than a dozen other states that have acted to protect carriers from what they say are unfair contracts.

Rising oil prices and growing distillate demand pushed the U.S. national diesel average 7.3 cents higher to $2.09 last week, the first increase in more than two months, the Department of Energy reported.

The private sector has plenty to worry about at the moment. On a global scale, there are the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan and Iran’s nuclear issues.

U.S. consumer confidence rose slightly this month, but still remains near its lowest point in three decades, according to the Reuters/University of Michigan’s final monthly consumer sentiment index released Friday.

Consumer personal spending rose in February for the second consecutive month, the Commerce Department said Friday.

China passed the United States last year to become the world’s second largest auto-producing nation behind Japan, according to a California research firm.

President Obama declared North Dakota a federal disaster area as floods from a big spring blizzard caused widespread road closures, and surrounding states to the south and west closed roads due to flooding and high winds, the Associated Press reported.

The U.S. economy contracted at an annual rate of  6.3% rate in the fourth quarter, marking the biggest contraction since 1982, the Commerce Department said Thursday.

Air and ocean freight forwarder UTi Worldwide lost $89.8 million, or 89 cents per share, for its fiscal fourth quarter, compared with a profit of $18 million, or 18 cents per share, a year ago.