//@robot1234: Nike earnings top Wall Street’s expectations, despite inflation in the U.S. and Covid lockdowns in China. Nike posted better-than-expected sales and profit for its fiscal fourth quarter.In the three-month period, inventory rose 23% versus the year-ago period, driven by longer lead times from ongoing issues in the supply chain.“We continue to closely monitor consumer behavior and we’re not seeing signs of pullback at this point in time and so we continue to execute the strategy and the plan we have which is working,” Nike’s CFO Matthew Friend said.Nike is in the middle of a strategy shift, as the company sells more merchandise directly to shoppers and trims back the amount sold by wholesale partners like Foot Locker. Its direct sales grew 7% to $4.8 billion in the quarter versus the year-ago period. Nike’s wholesale business trends were the opposite. Sales in that division dropped 7% to $6.8 billion.