Bloomberg Business

Above all, it was the year of inflation.

Asos Plc is the UK’s worst-performing stock of 2022, plunging 78% as cash-strapped Britons cut spending on clothes and the online retailer struggles with soaring costs and rising debt.

More tech tantrums. China’s Covid surge. And above all, no central banks riding to the rescue if things go wrong. Reeling from a record $18 trillion wipeout, global stocks must surmount all these hurdles and more if they are to escape a second straight year in the red.

South Korea plans a steep increase to electricity rates next year as the nation’s state-run utility faces a record loss from sky-high fuel costs.

Malaysia will test wastewater samples from all flights arriving from China for Covid-19, Health Minister Zaliha Mustafa said, in preparation for a possible spike in cases following China’s move to do away with pandemic restrictions.

Huawei Technologies Co. posted its third straight quarter of growth, declaring a return to normalcy after overcoming a plethora of US restrictions this year.

Australia’s A$3.3 trillion ($2.2 trillion) pension industry had its worst performance in 14 years in 2022 as markets were hit by rising interest rates.

Australians spent a record-breaking A$74.5 billion ($50.4 billion) in the run-up to Christmas, a sign that rising prices and soaring interest rates have yet to weaken consumer demand.

A gauge of China’s overnight funding cost quadrupled after falling to a record low this week as the demand for cash increased into the year-end.

The Japanese subsidiary of Sam Bankman-Fried’s bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX will start returning customer assets from the middle of February, the entity said in a statement on its website.