Walmart beats earnings estimates as low prices lure bargain hunters

globalnews.ca:

Walmart Inc. reported another quarter of strong quarterly results Thursday as its low prices pull in shoppers scouring for discounts with inflation stubbornly high.

The nation’s largest retailer, based in Bentonville, Arkansas, also offered an upbeat outlook. Share rose more than five per cent in premarket trading.

Walmart, based in Bentonville, Arkansas, is among the first major U.S. retailers to report quarterly results that could shed more insight into how consumers are feeling, particularly after the government reported an unexpected flattening of spending between March and April.

Americans have remained largely resilient in the face of inflation, bolstered by a strong labor market and steady wages.

But there are signs that shoppers are pulling back under the growing weight of higher prices and the higher costs of carrying debt.

While the inflation rate has ebbed prices remain elevated for some basic items like packaged goods and rents remain high, sapping the spending power of millions of people.

Home Depot, the nation’s largest home improvement retailer, said this week that sales declined for the third consecutive quarter to start 2024 as homeowners and prospective buyers wrestled with higher mortgage rates and inflation.

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The larger the nonprofit, the more likely it is run by a white man, says new Candid diversity report Starbucks last month lowered its sales expectations for the year as visits to its coffee shops slow worldwide. The decline in spending at U.S. stores was even worse than it had anticipated.

Walmart has launched new initiatives as it faces increasing pressure to rev up sales with Amazon becoming a growing