"Retail Giant Rings the Alarm!" Walmart Shares Crash 9% as Sales Growth Hits 6-Year Low Amid Inflation & Fuel Shock!

In a major shock to Wall Street and global retail markets, shares of retail behemoth Walmart tumbled over 8% to 9% on Thursday after the company reported its weakest US comparable sales growth in more than six years. In its latest quarterly results, US same-store sales rose by just 2.6%, down from 4.1% in the prior quarter and missing Wall Street expectations of around 3.7% to 3.8%, marking the retail giant’s slowest pace of sales expansion since late 2019.

The sudden slowdown has triggered fresh alarm bells about the financial health of ordinary shoppers who are cutting back on discretionary spending as daily living costs and petrol pump prices stay elevated. While Walmart's fast-growing e-commerce business surged by 24%, customer sales inside its traditional physical stores actually slipped by 2.5%. The retailer was also hit by federal price caps on prescription medicines in its pharmacy division and warned that rising energy costs will add a massive $2 billion in extra fuel expenses for its nationwide trucking fleet this year.

To fight back and win over cash-strapped buyers, Walmart is aggressively slashing prices. Boosted by an unexpected $2.9 billion tariff refund after past emergency import taxes were struck down in court, the company announced it will deploy these funds to temporarily lower prices on more than 11,000 grocery and general merchandise items through the rest of the year. Despite the domestic store slowdown, Walmart’s total quarterly revenue grew 5.9% to $187.9 billion, beating expectations as higher-income households increasingly shop at discount aisles to save money.