Yellow’s financial and labor woes are triggering trouble for the trucker in freight markets. Big shipping customers are diverting shipments away from the less-than-truckload carrier, the WSJ Logistics Report’s Paul Berger writes, pulling needed volume and revenue away from the business as it tries to redraw its balance sheet and operations. The Teamsters union is threatening a walk early next week after Yellow missed pension and healthcare payments, threatening to cut off benefits for thousands of workers. Both sides are pointing fingers at each other over the impasse, with Yellow saying Teamsters’ actions led to the current cash crisis. Yellow has gone to court in hopes of halting the threatened strike. Yellow’s deeper problem may be that the union, which says it has bailed out the company with concessions many times in the past, shows no sign that it’s interested in extending another lifeline.

• Knight-Swift Transportation’s profit plummeted in the second quarter as revenue across the truckload carrier’s business units fell 21%. (WSJ) 

The war between Russia and Ukraine is threatening to broaden into a sea battle involving cargo ships. Warnings by both Russia and Ukraine to strike vessels in the Black Sea are escalating a dispute over grain shipments, the WSJ’s Jared Malsin reports, adding new dangers to bulk ships in a region critical to global food supply chains. Ukraine’s declaration said all ships sailing to Russian-controlled ports would be doing so “with all associated risks.” Russia had issued a similar threat. The warnings deepen the uncertainty around Black Sea shipping days after Russia withdrew from the Black Sea grain agreement that allowed Ukraine to resume much of its food exports last year. Ukraine is unlikely to actually strike Russian cargo ships but the ultimatum could block some shipping by causing companies to stop insuring ships heading to the area, establishing what one expert called an “insurance blockade.”

• Russia bombed Ukraine’s port cities of Odesa and nearby Mykolaiv for a third consecutive night. (Financial Times)
• The U.S. blacklisted Russian shipowner Sasco and its fleet of 14 vessels for supporting Moscow’s war against Ukraine. (TradeWinds)

An unlikely energy boom is forming in a quiet corner of southwest Arkansas. New wells are rising along the thick-wooded back roads around the small town of Magnolia, the WSJ’s Collin Eaton and Benoît Morenne write, in a search not for oil but for lithium, the metal increasingly prized as an essential ingredient in electric-vehicle batteries. Exxon Mobil is planning to build one of the world’s largest lithium processing facilities near Magnolia and companies including Standard Lithium and Tetra Technologies are adding capacity nearby. It’s a sign of how developing technology behind EVs is helping form new supply chains. In Arkansas, Exxon hopes to profitably scale up technology used to siphon lithium from brine, an elusive goal across the industry. Standard Lithium CEO Robert Mintak says plentiful brine deposits could make the region as significant to lithium production as the Permian Basin has been for U.S. oil output.

• China is looking to develop vast reserves of lithium and other metals in Afghanistan in partnership with the Taliban. (Washington Post)

Sales of previously owned homes in the U.S. fell back 3.3% from May to June. (WSJ)

New U.S. unemployment claims fell to the lowest level in two months. (MarketWatch)

The U.S. index of leading economic indicators fell in June for the 15th straight month. (MarketWatch)

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing says a planned Arizona factory would miss its target of starting mass production next year. (WSJ)

American Airlines raised its outlook after second-quarter net profit jumped to $1.34 billion from $476 million last year. (WSJ)

The dockworkers’ union at British Columbia ports dropped a threat to resume a strike after Canada’s government moved to intervene in the contract impasse. (Reuters)

CSX’s second-quarter revenue slipped 3% as declining intermodal volume offset improving coal and other carload shipments. (MarketWatch)

Passenger airlines’ cargo revenues are declining at a steep pace as travel demand is growing. (CNBC)

Semiconductor startup Silicon Box is opening a $2.6 billion factory in Singapore. (Straits Times)

Alibaba is investing another $845 million into Southeast Asia e-commerce business Lazada. (Nikkei Asia)

The e-commerce sector’s share of warehouse space in India has fallen sharply since the pandemic. (Economic Times)

Polish delivery firm InPost took a 30% stake in U.K. logistics operator Menzies Distribution for about $63 million. (The Times)

SM Group is offering $3.5 billion to buy rival South Korean container line HMM. (Korea Economic Daily)

Container volume at Belgium’s Port of Antwerp-Bruges fell 5% in the first half of the year. (Container Management)

Sports apparel giant Nike has dramatically cut lead times for orders by installing automation at supplier factories. (Supply Management)

Consumer products supplier Helen of Troy is moving some production of Hydro Flask containers and other goods to the West. (Supply Chain Dive)

Secondhand and returned goods platform Arrive Recommerce raised $16 million in a Series A funding round that included Maersk Growth. (MarketWatch)

Private-equity firms are looking for younger workers from more varied backgrounds as they seek an advantage in a tough labor market.

Noncompete agreements are hindering even low-wage workers from taking advantage of today’s tight labor market by switching jobs for better pay.

The Big Four accounting firms are thinning their consultant ranks after aggressive hiring in the wake of the pandemic.

The Justice Department is turning to big data to spot corporate crime. “You’re seeing an increased focus on emerging technology broadly.” 

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.