The national average retail price of diesel fell 11.5 cents to $4.603 a gallon last week, the largest one-week drop in nearly two years and the second consecutive weekly decline, the Department of Energy reported.

Trailer manufacturer Wabash National Corp. reported a net loss of $3.2 million, or 11 cents a share, for the second quarter of 2008, down from earnings of $5.9 million, or 18 cents, a year ago.

Sharply higher rail rates for carrying hazardous materials known as toxic inhalants have led some shippers to shift to trucks, said John Conley, president of the National Tank Truck Carriers.

The International Longshore and Warehouse Union and the Pacific Maritime Association have reached a tentative agreement on a new six-year labor contract that will cover more than 25,000 workers at 29 West Coast ports, the groups said Tuesday in a joint statement.

The national average price of retail diesel fell 11.5 cents to $4.603 a gallon, the Department of Energy reported Monday.

Gasoline prices dropped 11.7 cents in the two weeks ended Friday to a national average of $3.9959 a gallon, the first time in more than a month that the average has fallen below $4 a gallon, the latest Lundberg Survey of filling stations said.

The Environmental Protection Agency postponed until early August its decision on whether to grant a request from Texas to cut the national renewable fuels mandate in half, citing the huge number of comments EPA has received on the issue, which has pitted livestock growers against grain producers.

Existing homes sales fell in June to the lowest level in a decade, the National Association of Realtors said Thursday.

Third-party logistics company and freight broker Hub Group’s second-quarter net income rose to $15 million, or 40 cents a share, from $13.8 million, or 35 cents, a year ago.

Union Pacific Corp. said Thursday its second-quarter profit rose 19%, on higher demand for agricultural transportation.