Crude oil prices steadied near multi-year highs on Wednesday, even as concerns over geopolitical tensions began to ease, as supply cut efforts by global oil producers continued to support the commodity. Oil prices had climbed amid Iranian protests, marking the biggest challenge to the country's clerical leadership since 2009. However, the protests were showing no signs of impacting Iran's oil production. Crude prices continued to be supported by production cuts led by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and Russia. The producers agreed in December to extend current oil output cuts until the end of 2018. Click Read More below for additional information.

American Dollar to Canadian Dollar = 0.756068; American Dollar to Chinese Yuan = 0.139731; American Dollar to Euro = 1.100388; American Dollar to Japanese Yen = 0.007182; American Dollar to Mexican Peso = 0.059763.

American Trucking Associations’ advanced seasonally adjusted (SA) For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index decreased 6.3% in October after gaining 5.7% in September. In October, the index equaled 106.8 (2015=100) compared with 114 in September. “While there are indications that the economy is losing momentum, I believe October’s tonnage softness was more of a seasonal issue during a pandemic than anything else,” said ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello. “Typical seasonality is off this year and it was a reason why October was down so much. Not seasonally adjusted tonnage was down a fraction as much as normal over the last five years during September, leading to a big seasonally adjusted gain. However, that means October’s not seasonally adjusted tonnage grew less than half as much as it typically does, leading to a big drop in the seasonally adjusted figure. There are plenty of carriers still saying that tonnage, retail tonnage in particular, is good.”