Wal-Mart shares tumble on report of weak February sales

Reuters.com ^ | 2/15/2013 | Reuters

[mykroar]

Shares of Wal-Mart Stores Inc (WMT.N) fell 3 percent on Friday after Bloomberg quoted a mid-level executive's email as saying the world's largest retailer had the worst sales start to any month in seven years in February.

Wal-Mart executives blamed the poor sales performance on increased payroll taxes as well as delayed tax returns, Bloomberg said.

Higher payroll taxes this year are seen as a potential problem for Wal-Mart and other discount retailers that try to attract lower-income customers who have less disposable income.

"In case you haven't seen a sales report these days, February (month-to-date) sales are a total disaster," Jerry Murray, a Wal-Mart vice president who works on finance in the U.S. logistics division, said in a February 12 email to other executives, Bloomberg reported. "The worst start to a month I have seen in my (about) 7 years with the company."

[mykroar]

That sounds like the logic of a department getting their budget cut if they don’t spend all of the previous year’s budget.

[ansel12]

I’ll try that sometime, thanks.

[P.O.E.]

LOL!!

[reformedliberal]

Walmart is publicly traded and so, their figures are published. But it isn’t just Walmart. It is the locally-owned tire shop, the private practice veterinarian, the massage therapist, the manufacturer & vendor for the *recession-proof* sewing industry, the chiropractic supply and every other little business in America. YOY is about the same: s-l-o-w.