NEW YORK — It’s arguably one of the surest signs the U.S. economy is getting back on track, although that’s not necessarily good news for truckers.

Crude Oil hit a record high for the year, landing above $75 a barrel on Wednesday, on the heels of a rosy economic numbers and the Dow Jones industrial average breaking 10,000 for the first time in a year, according to Reuters.

U.S. crude gained $1.03 Wednesday before settling at $75.18 a barrel — the highest it’s been since October 14, 2008, Reuters says.

The rise is also said to be stimulated by the weak U.S. dollar, which has made commodities more attractive to holders of other currencies, Reuters reports.

Meanwhile, after a five-week drop, the U.S. average price for diesel increased 1.8 cents per gallon to $2.60 over the last week.
That’s likely to rise further in the coming days considering yesterday’s peak price for 2009.

According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s report on Tuesday, Oct. 13, the national average price is still down $1.059 per gallon from a year ago when diesel was averaging around $3.659 per gallon.

In Canada diesel has also risen slightly this week, averaging about 90 cents a liter across the country.

While some regions, like southern Ontario and Alberta, saw virtually no change from last week, parts of Quebec and the Maritimes, where prices are usually highest, had hikes of up to 5 cents a liter.