UPS doesn’t want to deliver your cheap e-commerce packages, but it would be glad to help you return them, the WSJ’s Esther Fung writes. A UPS unit called Happy Returns is adding 1,700 locations where consumers can drop off their returns.

The addition brings its nationwide network to a total of 10,000 locations, giving UPS a chance to grab more of the over $700 billion of goods that Americans return each year. UPS executives have said that handling returns is more complex and potentially offers higher margins than lower-value e-commerce deliveries.

That is thanks to aggregation: Instead of delivering items to 20 different locations, Happy Returns can send 20 returns together to a single processing facility. As a result of the expansion, 79% of the U.S. population will soon live within 5 miles of a Happy Returns location, up from 76%. The move comes as UPS rolls back package deliveries for some e-commerce companies, including Amazon.

Major U.S. defense contractors that supply high-end munitions will need a year or two before they are able to produce at a higher rate and volume, a top U.S. military official said, as concerns grow over how quickly the military could replenish munitions used up in the Middle East.

While the U.S. defense industry is working to beef up its manufacturing capabilities as it faces a chronic munitions shortage, defense contractors are grappling with supply-chain constraints, the Journal’s Yoko Kubota reports. They also require time to build manufacturing facilities and hire workers.

Adm. Samuel Paparo said the military also needs to work with nontraditional defense contractors on new munitions like hypersonics, low-cost cruise missiles and a variety of drones and unmanned systems.

• RTX raised its full-year earnings and sales forecasts, citing the strength of its defense business, and its Pratt & Whitney unit plans to invest over $100 million on three U.S. maintenance, repair and overhaul sites.
• Northrop Grumman logged a jump in profit and higher sales, amid what CEO Kathy Warden called unprecedented global demand.
• GE Aerospace reported higher revenue and surging orders, driven by strong air travel and military demand.
• Japan eased longstanding restrictions on arms exports to strengthen ties with the U.S., NATO and Asian allies.
• The U.S. Navy expects to deploy thousands of unmanned surface vessels and more than 30 medium USVs in the Indo-Pacific by 2030. (USNI News)

An Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps gunboat fired on a containership in the Strait of Hormuz, heavily damaging its bridge, and a second vessel reported being fired at off the Iranian coast after President Trump said the U.S. would extend its cease-fire and continue its blockade. (WSJ)

Countries and companies that export goods to the U.S. are stuck: Washington wants them to strip Chinese content from their supply chains, while Beijing is warning them not to.

The WSJ’s Lingling Wei writes that the Trump administration’s trade strategy toward Asia is shifting to more surgical “rules of origin” after last year’s tariff drama. After a 40% transshipment duty to stop Chinese companies from routing goods through third countries proved too complicated, Washington’s focus is expected to shift to technical standards that determine where a product is actually “from,” veteran U.S. trade negotiator Wendy Cutler says.

The options for setting caps on Chinese content are technical, but the implications aren’t. For a factory owner in Penang or Ho Chi Minh City, they could mean ripping up decades-old supplier relationships—or losing access to the American market. Meanwhile, China is applying pressure from the other direction with new supply-chain regulations.

• UPS, FedEx and DHL Express said they will issue refunds on tariffs back to customers who originally paid for eligible shipments. (SupplyChainDive)

• U.S. retail sales rose 1.7% month-over-month in March, the Census Bureau said, in the fastest one-month rise in more than three years, with spending lifted by higher gasoline prices. (WSJ)
• The number of homes going under contract in the U.S. rose in March, with the National Association of Realtors’ pending home sales index rising 1.5% from February to 73.7. (WSJ)
• D.R. Horton posted lower profit as affordability concerns and economic uncertainty continued to put off homebuyers, forcing it to offer elevated incentives. (WSJ)
• Halliburton’s quarterly earnings rose sharply, reflecting year-earlier charges, with demand for the oilfield outfitter’s services holding steady. (WSJ)
• Rio Tinto reported increased production of iron ore, copper and aluminum, noting limited direct impacts from the Iran war. (WSJ)
• 3M reaffirmed its full-year guidance, betting that rebounding demand for industrial products and office supplies will outweigh caution from consumers. (WSJ)
• Chinese printed circuit-board maker Victory Giant Technology plans to use most of the $2.6 billion it raised in its Hong Kong trading debut on expanding production in mainland China. (WSJ)
• One Investment Management, known as OneIM, has invested in U.S. rare-earth magnet manufacturers Vulcan Elements and Noveon Magnetics, supporting efforts to build domestic supplies. (WSJ)
• Gemini Cooperation partners A.P. Moller-Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd are pausing two services between the Mediterranean and Saudi Arabia starting in mid-May. (Journal of Commerce)
• Labor unions and shipbuilders formed a group called the USA Shipbuilding Coalition to press lawmakers to pass the SHIPS Act aimed at reviving the U.S. maritime industry. (Reuters)
• CSX shifted most of its Chicago-area switching work to the Belt Railway of Chicago and Indiana Harbor Belt and away from its main Barr Yard in Riverdale, Ill. (TrainsPRO)

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.