Scott Horsley

oil customers in response to tariffs imposed by President Trump.

And UPS says its MD-11 cargo planes, grounded since a deadly crash in Kentucky earlier this month, will likely remain out of service throughout the peak holiday shipping season.

Scott Horsley, NPR News, Washington.

The more than 70 million Americans expected to take road trips over the holiday weekend will find some good prices on gasoline.

AAA reports the average price of regular gas nationwide is $3.04 a gallon.

That's about a nickel cheaper than a week ago and two cents less than this time last year.

Orders for long-lasting manufactured goods rose by half a percent in September, with defense products leading the charge.

Orders for durable goods other than defense products rose just one-tenth of a percent.

New applications for unemployment benefits dipped last week as 216,000 people applied for aid.

As of early November, about 1.7 million people were receiving some form of jobless assistance.

Scott Horsley, NPR News, Washington.

Tax collections were higher in October than they were a year ago, partly because that was the due date for taxpayers who got an extension last April as a result of the Los Angeles wildfires.

Government spending, however, grew even more despite the federal shutdown, which delayed some payments last month.

One of the government's biggest expenses was interest on the federal debt, which topped $100 billion in October, more than the government spent on the military.

Tariff collections have more than quadrupled from a year ago, as importers paid $33 billion in tariffs last month.

But that didn't begin to narrow the deficit.

Corporate tax collections were lower than they would have been without the Republican tax cut and spending bill passed during the summer.

Scott Horsley, NPR News, Washington.

Tax collections were higher in October than they were a year ago, partly because that was the due date for taxpayers who got an extension last April as a result of the Los Angeles wildfires.

Government spending, however, grew even more, despite the federal shutdown, which delayed some payments last month.