Renault SA said Tuesday that deliveries fell 9.4% in 2022, as supply constraints weighed.
The French car maker said its worldwide sales came to 1.47 million units in 2022, down from 1.62 million in the prior year.
Hugo Boss Tops 2022 Hopes as Sales Impetus Continued in 4Q
Hugo Boss AG ended the year on a high note as top-line growth continued to drive earnings in the fourth quarter and helped the company finish ahead of expectations.
The German premium-apparel company said Tuesday that sales rose 31% in 2022, or 27% at constant currency, to 3.65 billion euros ($3.95 billion), while earnings before interest and taxes rose 47% on year to EUR335 million.
OPEC Cartel Has Nothing on China's Clean-Energy Monopoly
Countries that import oil and gas worry about the clout of producing nations, particularly since Russia invaded Ukraine. Yet an even bigger vulnerability is building in the global supply chain for green energy.
China refines 95% of the world's supply of cobalt, a metal used in lithium-ion batteries. It manufactures over 70% of sicilia-based solar photovoltaic modules and is home to three-quarters of global electric-vehicle battery production capacity. Such numbers, published by the International Energy Agency last week, underline just how concentrated the global supply chains necessary for the transition to renewable energy are.
Russia and Belarus Stage Military Exercises on Ukraine's Border in Show of Force
Russia and its ally Belarus launched a series of air-force exercises Monday along the border with Ukraine in an effort to boost cooperation ahead of what Ukrainian officials and military analysts believe could be a fresh effort by Moscow in the coming months to retake battlefield momentum.
Moscow has reorganized mobilization and training efforts, boosted arms production and last week appointed its top general in charge of Ukraine operations in an effort to increase efficiency on the battlefield and end a series of wins by Ukraine in recent months.
GLOBAL NEWS
Pressure Rises on Bank of Japan for Further Policy Shift
TOKYO-The Bank of Japan is under pressure to revise policy again at its meeting ending Wednesday after investors repeatedly attacked the central bank's new 0.5% cap for the 10-year government bond yield.
The battle between the BOJ and the markets has upended what are expected to be the final months of Gov. Haruhiko Kuroda's decade in the job. He has devoted his term to keeping interest rates ultralow, a policy that many market players believe is likely to end this year with inflation in Japan nearing 4%.
China's Economic Growth Fell to Near-Historic Lows as Covid Took a Bite
SINGAPORE-China's economy grew at one of its slowest rates in decades last year as repeated lockdowns hammered households and businesses, emphasizing the high cost of zero-tolerance Covid-19 policies that Beijing abruptly abandoned at the end of 2022.
China's economy expanded 3% in 2022, the National Bureau of Statistics said Tuesday, a sharp slowdown from the 8.1% pace recorded in 2021. Aside from 2020, when the economy grew only 2.2%, last year marked the worst year for gross domestic product growth in China since 1976, the year that Mao Zedong's death ended the decade of strife known as the Cultural Revolution, according to World Bank data.
Shopper Rebellion Against Higher Prices Helps Slow Inflation
After pushing prices to new heights last year, some companies are starting to pull back. It could be another sign that inflation is starting to turn a corner.
Conagra Brands Inc., which makes Hunt's ketchup and Slim Jim meat sticks, raised prices 17% in its latest quarter, on top of two previous quarters, when it increased prices more than 10%.
China's Population Declined in 2022 for First Time in Decades
China has hit a historic turning point as its population begins to shrink after years of falling birthrates, a new reality for a country that for a long time has been the world's most populous.
The National Bureau of Statistics said Tuesday that China's population dropped to 1.412 billion in 2022, from 1.413 billion in 2021. It was the first decline since the early 1960s, when the country was devastated by famine after Mao Zedong launched his "Great Leap Forward."
Scottish Law on Gender Recognition Blocked by U.K. Government
The U.K. government on Monday blocked a law voted by Scotland's parliament on gender recognition, the first time that the London-based government has stopped a Scottish law from passing, in a move that will deepen divisions between Scottish nationalists and the U.K.
The controversial Scottish law, passed in November, makes it easier for transgender people to get official government recognition of their acquired gender by removing any need for a medical diagnosis of gender dysphoria and lowering the age from 18 to 16.
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This article is a text version of a Wall Street Journal newsletter published earlier today.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
01-17-23 0539ET
