UPDATE: CNBC Damage Control - Story was "misunderstood" and "misleading"...but not denied... CNBC is to Wal-mart as Hilsenrath to the Fed
[4]
Bloomberg's Joe Brusuelas has some thoughts...
Interesting how $WMT [5] denied weak Q2'13 reports just before bad qtr. their customer base is trading down. #ItsWorseThanYouThink [6]
— Joseph Brusuelas (@joebrusuelas) September 25, 2013 [7]
and... more generally...
The retail shakeout is not due to innovation or competition it's due to slow motion tragedy that's has befallen the US middle class
— Joseph Brusuelas (@joebrusuelas) September 25, 2013 [8]
Welcome to the new normal recovery... if ever there was a headline that summed up the idiocy of the mal-invested distorted new normal, Wal-Mart just managed it:
- *WAL-MART CUTTING ORDERS (In Q3 & Q4) AS UNSOLD MERCHANDISE PILES UP IN U.S.
So, it seems the "if we build it (or stock it), they will come (and buy)" mentaility has failed yet again... As we noted before, as goes Wal-Mart, so goes America... [9]
[10]
Via Bloomberg,
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is cutting orders it places with suppliers this quarter and next to address rising inventories the company flagged in last month’s earnings report.
...
U.S. inventory growth at Wal-Mart outstripped sales gains in the second quarter at a faster rate than at the retailer’s biggest rivals. Merchandise has been piling up because consumers have been spending less freely than Wal-Mart projected...