Because paying for the longer daylight evenings came at the expense of up to an hour of lost sleep, we hope you’ll find our latest weekly roundup especially valuable to catch up on the latest developments.

Factory Demand Falls
United States factories’ demand for products dropped sharply, while the country’s service sector contracted, according to the U.S. Commerce Department … fresh evidence of an economy hobbled by housing and credit crises.

Manufacturing: Sluggish, Mixed or Steady
Manufacturing was said to be sluggish or to have slowed in about half the 12 districts covered in the Federal Reserve Bank System’s Beige Book. Meanwhile, several others indicated manufacturing results were mixed or trends were steady. Only St. Louis, Mo., noted a strengthening relative to prior reports.

Consumers Ignore New Big-Three Vehicles
Despite piling on the incentives in February — Detroit’s Big Three spent nearly $3,400 for every car and light truck it sold, up 10 percent from a year ago — sales declined anyway. Plagued by continued disinterest in its gas-guzzling truck line, General Motors saw February sales decline 16 percent from a year ago, even while boosting its incentive spending by 23 percent during the same period. Ford Motor, despite a 6.3 percent increase in incentive spending and a good reception for its fuel-efficient Focus sedan, suffered a 7 percent drop in sales. Sales at Chrysler, which discontinued some of its unprofitable rental-fleet vehicles, fell 14 percent from a year ago despite an industry-leading $3,579 per vehicle in giveaways. Forbes covers these developments and others in a recent editorial entitled Detroit Can’t Give Them Away.

Customers Prefer Japanese Big-Three Cars
Japanese manufacturers had a better month, with sales up 4.9 percent at Honda and 1.2 percent at Nissan. Only Toyota, having some Detroit-like trouble with its truck line, saw a decline, with sales off 2.8 percent. Overall, the average vehicle sold in the U.S. in February — foreign or domestic — had $2,435 worth of incentives built into the sale, according to data compiled by Edmunds.com. That figure was up 0.9 percent from January and 8.4 percent from February 2007. While the month-over-month incentive increase was small, post-holiday January is typically the slowest car-buying month of the year means incentives went up at all a month later is a sure sign of an industry slowdown.

Wholesale Inventories Rise in January
January 2008 sales of merchant wholesalers, except manufacturers’ sales branches and offices, after adjustment for seasonal variations and trading-day differences but not for prices changes were up 2.7 percent from the revised December level and were up 15.1 percent from the January 2007 level, says the U.S. Census Bureau. Compared with last month, sales of metals and minerals, except petroleum, were up 4.2 percent.

Continuing Unemployment Grew
Initial filings for state unemployment benefits fell to their lowest level since late January in the latest week, the Labor Department reported Thursday (via MarketWatch), even as continuing claims rose to their highest level in more than two years. Initial claims for the week ending March 1 fell by 24,000 to 351,000, hitting their lowest mark since Jan. 19. Continuing claims climbed by 29,000 to 2.83 million during the week ending Feb. 23. That was the highest since Sept. 24, 2005.

Dollar Loses More Value
The U.S. dollar hit successive all-time lows against the euro earlier this month, breaking the key psychological barrier of $1.50 for the first time since the 15-nation currency was launched in 1999, CNN Money reported. More value loss is expected before the dollar strengthens, according to currency experts. This could help U.S. manufacturers sell more products abroad.

China Losing Its Competitive Edge?
More than half of foreign manufacturers in China believe the Asian giant is losing its competitive edge to other low-cost countries like Vietnam or India, according to a survey announced last week. Fifty-four percent of respondents in 66 companies — most of them foreign-owned firms in east China’s Yangtze River delta area — said they believe China’s competitiveness is waning. The joint survey by the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai and consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton said seven out of 10 respondents cited appreciation in the Chinese yuan as a key reason for lost competitiveness (A stronger local currency makes exports become more expensive.). Meanwhile, 52 percent of respondents also attributed China’s decline to the country’s rising wage costs.

Oil Prices Rise — Again
Crude oil futures surged to surpass $105 a barrel on Thursday, rallying anew after data showed U.S. inventories fell unexpectedly. Crude prices were also boosted by the weak dollar, which set a new low against the euro on Wednesday. Wednesday’s gain in crude was the biggest in value since crude futures started trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange in 1983. Also, rising tensions between Colombia and Ecuador affected trading. Crude oil futures, up 70 percent in the past year, rose to $106.54 on Friday. Crude oil for April delivery rallied to a record high of $107.44 a barrel in late morning trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange this morning; it was last seen up $1.85 at $107 a barrel.

OPEC Won’t Open Spigot
OPEC has announced it will not supply more oil because it expects weakening demand in the second quarter. This means that even with demand dropping significantly, OPEC is comfortable with a $70-80 price range. The organization refuses to be held responsible for record oil prices.

Trucking Tonnage Rose in January
The American Trucking Association (ATA) late last month reported its seasonally-adjusted for-hire Truck Tonnage index was up 2.4 percent in January, coming off a 1.5 percent gain in December. December’s performance was readjusted from its initial recording of a 4.1 percent gain that was announced by the ATA in January. The ATA said this is because it recently revised the Truck Tonnage index back five years, with the new seasonal factors resulting in lower 2007 volumes than were originally released.

Air Cargo Loses Market Share to Ships
Air cargo has been growing at half the rate of global trade expansion, showing a loss of market share to ocean shipping (which has benefited from faster vessels and cheaper fuel costs), according to economists at the International Air Transport Association (IATA). While aviation fuel rose 300 percent between 2002 and the first half of 2007, residual fuel for ships increased by 200 percent. During the last half of 2007, the gap narrowed with the sharp increase in prices. Both modes are experiencing a 500 percent increase in fuel costs compared with 2002. The result is that air cargo has clawed back some lost market share, masking any early impacts from the downturn in the U.S. economy.

Governor to Get Natural Gas Her Way
Alaska Governor Sarah Palin is seeking to auction drilling rights for Point Thomson on Alaska’s North Slope to speed up development of gas reserves with a value of $71 billion at current prices,” Bloomberg News reports. Palin has threatened to evict Exxon Mobil Corp. as well as partners BP Plc, Chevron Corp. and ConocoPhillips from a state-owned gas fields, winning their promise to increase Alaska’s natural-gas output 17 percent.

Administration and Congress Disagree on Product Safety
After the Senate passed product safety legislation, the White House announced “a lengthy list of objections,” The New York Times reports. Among them: an enforcement role for state prosecutors, an extension of whistle-blower protections and creation of a database of consumer complaints. But the president “has not threatened a veto,” according to The Washington Post.