National Average Price for Regular Unleaded Current: $3.392; Month Ago: $3.123; Year Ago: $3.320. National Average Price for Diesel Current: $4.614; Month Ago: $4.745; Year Ago: $3.643.

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.

Oil dipped slightly last week on a weaker demand outlook while Russia cast doubts on the timing of a decision to extend supply cuts led by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. Wagers on lower Brent prices rose by the most since June through the week to Nov. 14 amid uncertainty over Saudi Arabia’s push to prolong output curbs. Yet an extension remains likely, according to PVM Oil Associates Ltd. “It is widely believed that OPEC, together with 10 non-OPEC countries, will roll over their production for the whole of 2018,” said Tamas Varga, an analyst at PVM in London. Click Read More below for additional information.