Work Truck Show Attendance on the Rise
from Pit & Quarry
More than 8,400 work truck industry professionals attended The Work Truck Show 2009 and National Truck Equipment Association Convention March 3-6 at the McCormick Place West Building in Chicago. This represents an increase of 18.5 percent over The Work Truck Show 2008, and is the second largest turnout for this event in its 10-year history, organizers said. More

Task Force Open to Auto Aid, Avoiding Bankruptcy, Rattner Says
from Bloomberg
The Obama administration is “open minded” about giving General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC more aid and will use “all the resources” of the federal government to avoid bankruptcy for the automakers, said Steven Rattner, chief adviser to the U.S. Treasury’s autos task force. More

Fed to Buy Long-term U.S. Government Debt
from Reuters
The U.S. Federal Reserve, in a surprise move, said it will buy up to $300 billion worth of longer-term U.S. government debt over the next six months and expand purchases of mortgage-related debt to help ease credit market conditions. More

Housing Starts Unexpectedly Surge
from CNN
Initial construction of U.S. homes unexpectedly surged in February, after falling for eight months, according to a government report. More

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GM Says it Won’t Need Finance Infusion in March
from The New York Times
General Motors, which has borrowed $13.4 billion from the federal government since December to keep itself out of bankruptcy, said that it had withdrawn a request for an additional $2 billion that it thought was needed to stay alive through the end of this month. More

Navistar Introduces New Line of Proprietary Components
from Truck News
Navistar has announced it’s introducing a new line of proprietary components for its International trucks. The MaxxPower line of components will be designed and engineered by and for Navistar as OE and factory-installed parts, the company announced. More