1. Bernard Arnault Takes on Elon Musk With SPAC Deal to Take Lotus Public: Lotus Technology, the electric-car maker owned by China’s Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co., said Tuesday its agreed to merge with L Catterton Asia Acquisition Corp. in a transaction that values the combined entity at about $5.4 billion. – Read More on Bloomberg

2. Plenty of Demand for Brick-and-Mortar Luxury Retail: No longer mostly consolidated in New York and Los Angeles, areas such as Phoenix, Austin, and Nashville are gaining in popularity, according to recent foot traffic data from Placer.ai blogger Bracha Arnold. – Read More on Globe Street

3. Men dominated 2021 ranks of highest-paid CEOs in S&P 500: But execs. from Ross Stores, Coach-owner Tapestry, etc. among the top on female-specific list. – Read More on S&P Global

4. Europe’s luxury stocks have room to rise, but becoming costly: An index of European luxury goods retailers has rallied around 18% so far this year, outperforming the wider pan-European STOXX 600, which is up 6.2% in the same time frame. – Read More on Reuters

5. Rent the Runway Announces Corporate Debt Restructuring: The company says the transaction enhances its ability to pursue its growth goals by extending maturity to October 2026 and reducing cash interest payments significantly. – Read More in Press Release

6. German retail sales post surprise plunge in December amid rising prices: Retail sales decreased by 5.3% in December compared with the previous month, the federal statistics office said on Tuesday. Analysts polled by Reuters had forecast a 0.2% rise in price-adjusted terms. – Read More on Reuters