After a year of unprecedented increases, imports at the nation’s major retail container ports are expected to return to normal growth rates in 2022 but volumes will remain high, according to the monthly Global Port Tracker report released by the National Retail Federation and Hackett Associates.

Retail sales excluding auto in December rose 6.9 percent compared to December 2020 and gained 8.1 percent against December 2019, according to Mastercard SpendingPulse.

Lululemon Athletica, Inc. announced the appointment of Michael Aragon as CEO of Mirror and Lululemon Digital Fitness, effective January 17, 2022. He was the chief content officer at Twitch.

Dick’s Sporting Goods Inc. in a regulatory filing Thursday raised its guidance for the full year and provided fourth-quarter earnings guidance that was well above Wall Street’s consensus target.

Authentic Brands Group Inc., officially withdrew its plans for an initial public offering, according to a regulatory filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The cancellation of the IPO was expected given its move in November to sell significant equity stakes in the company to private equity firms CVC Capital Partners and HPS Investment Partners.

ICR announced that the 2022 ICR Conference will be held virtually due to the quicker than anticipated spread of the Omicron/Delta variants.

In a statement, National Retail Federation (NRF) Chief Economist Jack Kleinhenz said the COVID-19 Omicron variant brings uncertainty to the economy in 2022 and could contribute to inflation, but is unlikely to cause widespread shutdowns or slowdowns.