The financial reporting season continues to reveal solid performance on both sides of the Atlantic, with major manufacturers overcoming unprecedented challenges to produce healthy profits.
However, in Asia, the story is not so rosy, with China reporting its first sales slump in recent history.
Overall sales fell almost 5% last year, with domestic shipments even harder hit - down 12.4%.
But Chinese analysts are expecting improvement in the next couple of years as the market enters "a new round of growth".