Logistics

Hedge funds piled into Amazon.com Inc. in the second quarter, putting themselves on the front line of losses as the stay-at-home trade began to unravel.

Although career opportunities in trucking are abundant, the driver shortage has been a thorn in the industry’s side for years, and it has only become more severe as freight demand has surged amid the recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

As retailers ramp up inventory for a fast-approaching holiday shopping season, experts worry that an already overextended domestic supply chain will be further tested amid overseas ports’ struggles with the COVID-19 delta variant, rising shipping prices and trucking’s persistent and growing driver shortage.

News of Amazon .com Inc.’s department store plans sent a shudder through retail stocks just as some of the biggest names in the industry were reporting robust earnings, a signal that new challenges await in the beleaguered sector.

Imported goods continued to flood into the U.S. in July as the nation’s ports produced substantial container volumes.

The partial closure of the world’s third-busiest container port is worsening congestion at other major Chinese ports, as ships divert from Ningbo amid uncertainty over how long virus control measures in the city will last.

Global trade in goods might be close to plateauing — albeit at a record level — amid an outlook clouded by regional imbalances and coronavirus outbreaks that slow economic activity, the World Trade Organization said.

A shareholder vote on the proposed $33.6 billion acquisition of Kansas City Southern by Canadian National Railway has been delayed until Sept. 3 to provide time for government officials to rule on whether CN can operate KCS while the deal is under federal review.

Deutsche Post AG has agreed to acquire German logistics company Hillebrand for about 1.5 billion euros ($1.8 billion).

NEW YORK — Americans cut back on their spending in July as a surge in COVID-19 cases kept people away from stores.