Trucking executives are calling an end to one of the longest freight downturns in carriers’ memory, the WSJ Logistics Report’s Paul Berger and Liz Young write.

Rates have risen to more sustainable levels after a period of low earnings, and the Trump administration’s crackdowns on immigrant drivers have pushed many carriers out of the market. Meanwhile, the rapid build-out of data centers and increased factory activity are helping offset tepid consumer demand. 

The rebound is visible in the Logistics Managers’ Index, which showed transportation prices increased in May at the fastest rate for any metric in the report’s 10-year history. And dry-van spot rates were up 52% year-over-year last week, excluding fuel charges, according to FTR Transportation Intelligence and Truckstop.com.

Trucking specialists now say the industry has finally found equilibrium after four years in which carriers were squeezed by too many trucks on the road and not enough loads. Although consumer demand and home construction have been relatively flat, factory activity and data-center development are accelerating freight volumes.

Western companies are pouring money into Brazil’s rare-earth industry, hoping it can help loosen China’s grip on critical minerals. The Journal’s Samantha Pearson writes that miners are racing to develop deposits across the South American nation, which holds the world’s second-largest rare-earth reserves after China.

Companies and government officials say they want to build processing plants that can separate rare earths, produce metals and eventually manufacture magnets. That ambition would represent a much bigger challenge to Beijing. While China holds roughly half of global rare-earth reserves, it controls more than 90% of processing and magnet production, giving it a dominating influence over global supply chains.

Australian miners Viridis and Meteoric are advancing neighboring deposits in Brazil, while Canada’s Aclara is developing a project in Goiás state. In April, USA Rare Earth, backed by U.S. government financing, agreed to pay $2.8 billion to acquire Serra Verde, the only large-scale producer outside Asia extracting rare earths from clay deposits.

• EV maker BYD and humanoid robotics company Unitree are among the roughly two dozen Chinese companies newly identified by the Pentagon as aiding China’s military. (WSJ)

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• U.S. home sales in May posted the biggest rise this year, a sign that the crucial spring selling season may be showing signs of life. (WSJ)
• U.S. small-business optimism fell 0.6 points to 95.3 in May, pressured by higher fuel prices and weakened hiring plans. (WSJ)
• Canada’s goods-trade surplus widened in April to a 15-month high of 2.72 billion Canadian dollars, the equivalent of about $1.95 billion, driven by record exports. (WSJ)
• A study involving Instacart found that informing customers about low-supply items led to shoppers spending about 5.8% more money on the site over six months. (WSJ)
• Stellantis’s Chrysler is recalling certain vehicles over concerns their electric hydraulic power-steering pump wiring may overheat and cause a vehicle fire. (WSJ)
• Kuehne+Nagel launched a weekly air-cargo route linking Chicago and Frankfurt. (SupplyChain24/7)
• Danish logistics giant DSV launched a new temperature-controlled air-freight route for pharmaceuticals between Luxembourg and Indianapolis. (Air Cargo News)
• The price of crop nutrient urea has dropped over 30% from mid-April, pulling down corn and wheat prices. (Bloomberg)
• Qcells, a unit of South Korea’s Hanwha Group, started production of solar cells in the U.S. (Nikkei Asia)
• About a quarter of the mainstream tankers in the Persian Gulf when the Iran war began have exited the waterway, though about 160 of the vessels remain stranded. (Lloyd’s List)
• Industrial-robot maker Standard Bots raised $200 million in venture capital to expand on New York’s Long Island. (DC Velocity)
• Eight Uzbekistani men were charged in New York for impersonating carriers in a retail theft ring. (SupplyChainBrain)
• A ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Gordie Howe International Bridge linking the U.S. and Canada across the Detroit River has been scheduled for Friday. (The Detroit News)

Mark R. Long is editor of WSJ Logistics Report. Reach him at mark.long@wsj.com. Follow the WSJ Logistics Report team on LinkedIn: Mark R. Long, Liz Young and Paul Berger.