American Dollar to Canadian Dollar = 0.798114; American Dollar to Chinese Yuan = 0.157180; American Dollar to Euro = 1.100994; American Dollar to Japanese Yen = 0.008218; American Dollar to Mexican Peso = 0.049938.

Oil last week rose to levels last seen in 2014 amid growing geopolitical risks, with investors anticipating that retaliation against Assad would threaten production in the region, while tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran-backed rebels in Yemen also added to concerns. Still, surging U.S. output continues to weigh on investor sentiment even as the International Energy Agency says the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries is close to reaching its target of eliminating a global crude glut. Meanwhile, in the U.S., working oil rigs rose by seven last week to 815, the highest since March 2015, according to data from Baker Hughes. The rig fleet has expanded in 10 of the past 12 weeks. The expansion came after the Energy Information Administration data showed that American oil production rose to a fresh record of 10.5 million barrels a day. Click Read More below for additional information.

American Trucking Associations’ advanced seasonally adjusted For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index increased 2.1% in December after falling 1.4% in November. In December, the index equaled 115.7 (2015=100) compared with 113.3 in November. “While 2023 ended on a better note, truck tonnage remained in a recession as it continued to fall on a year-over-year basis,” said ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello. “With that said, for-hire contract freight, which is what comprises our index, in December was 2.6% above the trough in April. For the entire year, tonnage contracted 1.7% from 2022 levels. This makes 2023 the worst annual reading since 2020 when the index fell 4% from 2019, and the only year since 2020 that tonnage contracted.” Compared with December 2022, the SA index fell 0.5%, which was the tenth straight year-over-year decrease, albeit the smallest over that period. In November, the index was down 1.6% from a year earlier.