Government

Oil prices rose more than $2 to top $119 a barrel Wednesday following a report that inventories declined last week, Bloomberg reported.

Durable goods orders rose 1.3% in July, the Commerce Department said Wednesday.

The transportation industry is in a dangerous place, one where even well-known industry players such as Jevic Transportation, which closed its doors in May, and Jim Palmer Trucking, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in July, can go under — taking their employees with them.

New home sales rose in July from a 17-year low the previous month, the Commerce Department said Wednesday.

Consumer confidence rose in August, as fuel prices fell as gasoline prices fell, the New York-based Conference Board said Tuesday.

Oil prices rose early Tuesday on concerns that newly formed Hurricane Gustav may be on track to move into the Gulf of Mexico, the Associated Press reported.

Freightliner Trucks, part of Daimler Trucks North America, said it will offer Meritor WABCO’s new automatic forward-collision warning and braking system on its models Cascadia and Century Class S/T tractors.

Freight carriers are preparing for a relatively weak peak shipping season this year as major retailers react to sluggish economic growth by cutting back on imports and reducing the volume of goods that typically move by truck and rail during what is usually the busiest shipping period in the third and fourth quarters.

Whether the product is laundry detergent or basketballs or almost anything else, changing the way things are packaged to make the most out of a trailer’s space is introducing a little-noticed structural change to the trucking industry.