Key Currency Exchange Rates for Friday, 03/23/18 at 12:20 UTC

Oil is heading for the longest run of weekly gains since October 2016 as global supplies tighten and on signs the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries will extend output curbs past the end of March. Saudi Arabia on Thursday advised its nationals to leave Lebanon, fueling fears of a confrontation with Iran in a country long known for being a battleground for proxy wars in the Middle East. “Geopolitical risks have taken center stage in the oil market again,” said Jens Naervig Pedersen, senior analyst at Danske Bank A/S in Copenhagen. “The rising tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran have raised concerns in the oil market of an imminent supply disruption.” Saudi Arabia said it plans to cut crude exports to all the regions it ships to next month. Shipments will fall by 120,000 barrels a day in December from November, a spokesman for the Energy Ministry said, without specifying what those levels would be. Bloomberg calculations from vessel-tracking data estimated flows in October at 6.989 million a day. Click Read More below for additional information.

American Dollar to Canadian Dollar = 0.740937; American Dollar to Chinese Yuan = 0.141190; American Dollar to Euro = 1.110787; American Dollar to Japanese Yen = 0.006998; American Dollar to Mexican Peso = 0.050177.

Among the key findings in ATA Freight Transportation Forecast 2023 to 2034 are: *Overall truck tonnage will grow from an estimated 11.3 billion tons this year to 14.2 billion tons in 2034. This represents 72.4% of the freight tonnage in 2023 and 72.6% of tonnage at the end of the forecast period. *Trucking’s revenues will grow from $1.01 trillion in 2023 to $1.51 trillion in 2034, which will account for 78.8% of the freight market. *In other modes: o As coal and bulk petroleum shipments wane over time, rail carload tonnage will fall from 11% of total freight to 10.1% by 2034. o Rail intermodal revenues will grow from $21.7 billion in 2023 to $35.2 billion in 2034. o Air cargo tonnage will grow from 17.6 million tons this year to 23.7 million tons in 2034. o Pipelines will see their share of freight tonnage grow from 9.8% in 2023 to 10.4% in 2034.