Big retailers are selling as if supply-chain snarls are already over. Walmart and Home Depot both saw their sales surge in the most recent quarter, the WSJ’s Sarah Nassauer reports, as consumers shrugged aside rising prices while the merchants flexed their scale to keep shelves stocked. The results highlight the uneven impact of supply-chain snarls, as large companies with deep pockets work around disruptions that are hobbling smaller competitors. Walmart says it has learned during the pandemic how to adjust to supply-chain strain and inventory supply issues quickly. Its inventories rose 11.5% during the quarter, faster than the 9.2% sales growth, and the company says it is well stocked for the holiday season. Home Depot CFO Richard McPhail says the home-improvement retailer’s scale is proving an advantage, allowing the company to use its cavernous stores to facilitate deliveries and to negotiate lower rates with shipping liners and truckers.

More oil may be flowing into transportation markets that have been pinched by tight supplies. The International Energy Agency is projecting that crude output will rise by some 1.5 million barrels a day in the rest of 2021, the WSJ’s David Hodari reports, signaling that the tight supply and demand balance in energy markets could start easing. The outlook comes as the price of crude has risen to its highest since 2014 in recent months, driving up fuel costs for transportation operators. Diesel prices across the U.S. are also at their highest level since October 2014, and have advanced some 37% this year. More crude could benefit shipping’s tanker sector, which has stumbled under sagging rates as countries have drawn on existing stockpiles. Supplies have been pared back, however, and the IEA now expects oil production to continue increasing into 2021 as well.

Investors are putting more money behind supply chains aimed at competing with Amazon. Online retail platform Faire Wholesale is the latest to gain ground in the market with a $400 million raise in its third funding round during the past 13 months. The WSJ’s Kristen Broughton reports the backing values the San Francisco-based startup at $12.4 billion and will support Faire’s efforts to expand a business aimed at providing smaller stores with an Amazon-like marketplace for wholesale items. The company launched its platform in Europe earlier this year and plans to focus on accelerating its growth in the region. It’s one example of companies like Shopify that help smaller retailers with functions from consumer-facing operations to back-office procurement and payments tools. Retailers that use Faire’s marketplace have 60 days to pay for their orders, and the company provides technology to help companies forecast sales to manage inventories.

U.S. retail sales surged 1.7% in October as consumers brushed off higher prices at stores. (WSJ)

Natural gas prices in Europe are surging on growing concerns over winter supplies. (WSJ)

Lucid Group became the latest electric-vehicle startup to rival automotive icon Ford in market value. (WSJ)

Pfizer is licensing its experimental Covid-19 antiviral to a global health organization in an effort to make the pill more widely available. (WSJ)

Corporate executives aren’t returning manufacturing jobs to the U.S. even as they undertake other changes in their supply chains. (Washington Post)

Chinese express carrier SF Holding will list its money-losing intra-city delivery unit in Hong Kong. (Caixin Global)

Honda is asking its suppliers to cut carbon emissions by 4% annually as the company moves toward a net-zero supply chain. (Nikkei Asia)

Wayfair says its Castlegate Forwarding logistics service has become one of the 30 largest U.S. importers by volume. (Supply Chain Dive)

Union Pacific wants federal regulators to extend their review of the proposed merger of Canadian Pacific Railway and Kansas City Southern. (Trains)

FTR expects the market for trucking companies to remain strong “well into 2022.” (DC Velocity)

Trucking fleets are struggling to find parts to maintain their vehicles. (Transport Dive)

Container line Zim suspended its Asia-Los Angeles service because of port congestion. (Journal of Commerce)

The Ever Given is repaired and back in commercial operations. (Splash 247)

European regulators are preparing to block the planned Hyundai Heavy Industries acquisition of fellow South Korean company Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering. (Korea Times)

DSME’s net loss nearly doubled in the third quarter to about $48.2 million. (Yonhap)

A.P. Moller-Maersk became majority owner of a joint venture with a logistics operator in South Africa. (Port Technology)

Dubai is considering a public listing for the state-owned Emirates airline. (Air Cargo World)

The maker of Beanie Babies says it is shipping its goods from China by airfreight to get them to the U.S. in time for Christmas. (Yahoo Finance)

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

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