News Briefs - Nov. 27
The Latest Headlines:
- Westport, Isuzu to Develop Natural Gas Truck
- Personal Spending Up 0.4% in October
- Third-Quarter Truck Sales Slip in Western Europe
- Crude Oil Price Rises After Poor Inventory Report
- Initial Jobless Claims Fall for Second Straight Week
- Personal Spending Up 0.4% in October
Westport, Isuzu to Develop Natural Gas Truck
Westport Innovations Inc. said Wednesday that it has reached an agreement with Isuzu Motors to develop a prototype of a natural gas engine-powered Isuzu ELF truck.The project has been initiated and will be fully funded by Isuzu. The development and research will be done at the automaker’s plant in Fujisawa, Japan.
Westport will assist in the testing and production of the protoype and will retain all ownership rights for the engine.
(Click here for the full press release.)
Personal Spending Up 0.4% in October
Consumer spending rose 0.4% in October, the Commerce Department reported Wednesday, led by purchases of non-durable goods and services.The increase came after a 0.4% decline in September, and has been coupled with increasing consumer confidence, providing analysts hope that the holiday shopping season would be strong, Bloomberg said.
Durable goods spending fell, mainly due to decreased spending on automobiles, by 1% in October.
Personal income rose 0.1%, Commerce said in its report, its smallest increase in three months. Transport Topics
Third-Quarter Truck Sales Slip in Western Europe
The number of trucks, and other commercial vehicles, sold in Western Europe fell 4.5% during the third quarter. The drop was mostly due to a slowing economy, Bloomberg reported Wednesday.The total number of trucks, buses and vans sold in the region slipped to 487,494 during the quarter, the European Automobile Manufacturers Association said.
Analysts said that the reasons for the decline were mostly attached to the faltering economy in Europe, particularly in Germany, Bloomberg said. Transport Topics
Crude Oil Price Rises After Poor Inventory Report
The price of crude oil rose about 41 cents a barrel after a report by the American Petroleum Institute showed a drop in U.S. oil reserves, Bloomberg reported Wednesday.The API report said that distillate reserves, including heating oil and diesel fuel, fell 3% last week, or 3.7 million barrels as demand for heating oil rose with the onset of cold weather in the Northeast.
Crude oil rose 1.6% to $26.81 a barrel, Bloomberg reported. Transport Topics
Initial Jobless Claims Fall for Second Straight Week
The number of U.S. workers filing for unemployment benefits for the first time fell to their lowest level since before last year’s recession, the Department of Labor said Wednesday.Improvement in the labor market can have an impact on consumer confidence and spending, both of which can boost demand for trucking.
Initial claims fell 17,000 to 364,000, showing a slowing in the pace of firings. The four-week moving average fell for the third straight week to 385,750 indicating that there continues to be gradual improvement in the job market, analysts told Bloomberg. Transport Topics
