News Briefs - Nov. 6
The Latest Headlines:
- Two Dead After Shooting at Watkins Motor Lines
- Greenspan Upbeat on Economy; Warns About Deficit
- New UPS Service Sends Packages Through Post Office
- Snow Says Economy in 'New Phase'
- Agreement Reached on Ethanol Taxes
- Price of Crude Oil Rises More Than 5%
- Greenspan Upbeat on Economy; Warns About Deficit
Two Dead After Shooting at Watkins Motor Lines
A man armed with two handguns opened fire Thursday at Watkins Motor Lines in the Cincinnati suburb of West Chester, killing two employees and injuring three, the Associated Press reported.WLWT-TV reported on its Web site that Tom West, a former employee of the less-than-truckload company, was taken into custody on Interstate 74 in Decatur County, Indiana, shortly before noon local time.
Officials with Watkins Motor Lines did not immediately return calls seeking comment, AP said. The company is a subsidiary of Atlanta-based Watkins Associated Industries. Transport Topics
Greenspan Upbeat on Economy; Warns About Deficit
Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan delivered an upbeat assessment of the U.S. economy on Thursday, but warned about long-term threats posed by the federal budget deficit, the Associated Press reported.While he said he expected the job market to improve in the coming months, if the deficit controls to balloon, it could have a destabilizing effect on future growth prospects.
He said the need for businesses to replace inventories is a sign that jobs will have to be created. Transport Topics
New UPS Service Sends Packages Through Post Office
United Parcel Service is rolling out a new service called UPS Basic, aimed at winning business away from the U.S. Postal Service, Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.The service would allow large customers to go through UPS, which planned to take advantage of a discount program that allows it to pay a lower rate to have materials delivered by postal carriers, the Journal said.
If the rollout is successful, the company could increase the number of packages whose final delivery is made by the mailman to hundreds of thousands a day. Rival FedEx Corp. is expected to begin a similar test, the article said.
UPS is ranked No. 1 and FedEx No. 2 on the 2003 Transport Topics 100 list of the largest U.S. and Canadian trucking companies. Transport Topics
Snow Says Economy in 'New Phase'
Treasury Secretary John Snow said the U.S. economy has entered a "new phase" of growth, although job creation lags behind, Agence France-Presse reported.In a speech to the Economic Club of Washington, Snow said the economy may not be able to maintain its pace in the coming quarters, but "there is real muscle" behind the recent growth.
The economy expanded at a 19-year record annual pace of 7.2% in the third quarter of this year, the Commerce Department said last week.
Snow also said that labor markets appeared to be reacting slowly to the rising economic activity, AFP said. Transport Topics
Agreement Reached on Ethanol Taxes
An agreement reached Wednesday between House and Senate Republicans over ethanol taxes was viewed as a breakthrough toward moving energy legislation through Congress this month, the Associated Press reported.The ethanol tax dispute had stalled the energy talks for more than two weeks, prompting direct intervention by the White House.
The changes would end the current tax break of 5.2 cents a gallon for ethanol-blended gasoline, adding $2 billion a year to the federal highway fund. In return, refiners or blenders using ethanol would receive a tax credit from the U.S. Treasury for the additional payments into the trust fund.
Although several obstacles remain, a final conference report, merging House and Senate versions of the energy bill, could be approved in the next week, AP said. Transport Topics
Price of Crude Oil Rises More Than 5%
The price of crude oil on Wednesday had its biggest one-day gain in three months after the Energy Department reported that U.S. inventories increased less than expected in the week ended Oct. 31.Supplies rose 100,000 barrels to 291.9 million barrels last week, the report showed. Analysts surveyed by Bloomberg expected an increase of 209,000 barrels.
Crude oil for December delivery rose $1.55, or 5.4%, to settle at $30.30 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the biggest one-day increase since Aug. 1. Prices were up 16% from a year earlier.
DOE also said stockpiles of distillate fuels, which include heating oil and diesel, fell 1.3 million barrels to 132.7 million barrels in the week ended Oct. 31. Transport Topics
