An e-commerce rebound could be forming at the sector’s top seller. Amazon posted its strongest quarterly profit in a year and a half, partly on improving online retail sales that drove an 11% hike in revenue to $134.2 billion. The WSJ’s Dana Mattioli reports the profit of $6.75 billion reversed a loss a year earlier and was close to twice the amount analysts were expecting. The results also put on display the effects of Amazon’s effort over more than a year to reduce costs by cutting jobs and curtailing operations that have been mired in red. Amazon has laid off workers and slowed expansion of its logistics network. Shipping costs still rose 6% from the same quarter last year. But net sales at online stores rose nearly the same amount and sales from third-party merchants jumped 18%, upbeat signals in this year’s lagging e-commerce markets.

• Wayfair’s second-quarter revenue fell 3.4% but the online furniture retailer dramatically cut its net loss to $46 million. (MarketWatch)

Steelmakers are showing strong confidence in growth in the economy’s industrial sectors. Manufacturers including Nucor, Steel Dynamics and United States Steel are among companies adding new plants and expanding existing factories across the U.S. The WSJ’s Bob Tita reports the investments could add more than 12 million tons a year of additional capacity to make flat-rolled steel in the next couple of years. American steelmakers haven’t been on a roll lately. Steel shipments from domestic mills last year were nearly 90 million tons, down 5.5% from 2021. Spending indicators for some crucial steel markets, such as warehouse construction, have recently signaled growing weakness, analysts said. But the manufacturers are anticipating a big payoff from the steel needed for federal infrastructure projects, increased car production and new electric-battery facilities. Steel executives expect funding will start to reach specific projects later this year, triggering orders for steel and other materials.

India is using trade policies to help boost local manufacturing of high-value electronics goods. The country rolled out new restrictions on the import of laptops, tablets and other consumer-electronics devices, the WSJ’s Rajesh Roy reports, in a move widely seen as aimed at getting more global electronics makers to sign on to the country’s Make in India program. That array of manufacturing incentives is part of the government’s broader effort to bulk up India’s place in global electronics supply chains, a push that has gained growing smartphone manufacturing from Apple. Imports of computing devices covered under the new restrictions, which include computers and servers, totaled nearly $10 billion last year. The restrictions are the latest in a stream of moves by countries worldwide tying industrial policies to trade. India doesn’t have prominent local personal-computer makers, while global companies including HP and Dell Technologies manufacture locally in limited quantities.

• Apple’s revenue declined for the third consecutive quarter, the company’s most prolonged sales slump since 2016. (WSJ)
• Qualcomm is planning layoffs after the chip maker said declining smartphone demand drove a 23% decline in quarterly revenue. (WSJ)
• International prices for rice have spiked to an 11-year high since India restricted exports. (Nikkei Asia)

The U.K.’s central bank raised its key interest rate for the 14th time in a row and said it may do so again. (WSJ)

The productivity of American workers and companies rebounded in the second quarter, growing at a 3.7% annual pace. (MarketWatch)

Wholesale pork belly prices have nearly tripled since the start of June. (WSJ)

Rolls-Royce’s first-half profits surged fivefold after the rebound in international travel fueled more demand for aircraft engines. (Financial Times)

Shares in trucker Yellow resumed the surge in price that began after the trucker shuttered operations. (Dow Jones Newswires)

Smaller shippers are scrambling to find capacity to replace Yellow in less-than-truckload markets. (Journal of Commerce)

Truckload carrier Schneider National cut its earnings outlook on falling freight volumes and increasing price pressure. (Dow Jones Newswires)

An environmental group says container lines and retailers are “failing to deliver” on promised cuts in shipping emissions. (TradeWinds)

Belgian tanker operator Euronav swung to a $161.8 million profit in the second quarter as revenue more than doubled. (ShippingWatch)

Mediterranean Shipping acquired Milan-based 777 freighter operator AlisCargo Airlines. (Air Cargo News)

Lufthansa Cargo’s quarterly adjusted operating earnings fell more than 90% to about $40 million as yield declined 47%. (The Loadstar)

🎧 Listen to Fahim Siddiqui, the chief information officer of Home Depot, on the home-improvement retailer’s plans to use generative AI and its app to attract DIY and professional customers.

Paul Page is editor of WSJ Logistics Report. Reach him at paul.page@wsj.com.

Follow the WSJ Logistics Report team: @PaulPage, @bylizyoung and @pdberger. Follow the WSJ Logistics Report on Twitter at @WSJLogistics.