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  • Personal CFO Solutions LLC Has $629,000 Holdings in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

    Personal CFO Solutions LLC Has $629,000 Holdings in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

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    Personal CFO Solutions LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT – Get Rating) by 5.7% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 4,848 shares of the retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 261 shares during the quarter. Personal CFO Solutions LLC’s holdings in Walmart were worth $629,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

    Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Candriam S.C.A. increased its position in Walmart by 398.9% during the second quarter. Candriam S.C.A. now owns 63,636 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $7,736,000 after buying an additional 50,880 shares during the last quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Walmart in the second quarter valued at approximately $5,302,000. Windward Capital Management Co. CA grew its position in shares of Walmart by 0.7% in the third quarter. Windward Capital Management Co. CA now owns 28,022 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $3,634,000 after purchasing an additional 201 shares during the last quarter. Meritage Portfolio Management grew its position in shares of Walmart by 35.2% in the third quarter. Meritage Portfolio Management now owns 20,160 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $2,615,000 after purchasing an additional 5,253 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norris Perne & French LLP MI grew its position in shares of Walmart by 6.9% in the third quarter. Norris Perne & French LLP MI now owns 2,989 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $388,000 after purchasing an additional 194 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 31.27% of the company’s stock.

    Analyst Ratings Changes

    Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. TheStreet raised Walmart from a “c+” rating to a “b” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 29th. Cowen upped their target price on Walmart from $165.00 to $175.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 16th. DA Davidson upped their target price on Walmart from $163.00 to $173.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 16th. Cowen upped their target price on Walmart from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 16th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. set a $155.00 target price on Walmart in a research report on Wednesday, November 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $160.52.

    Insider Activity

    In other news, EVP John R. Furner sold 4,375 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.94, for a total value of $616,612.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 263,809 shares in the company, valued at approximately $37,181,240.46. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, EVP John R. Furner sold 4,375 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.94, for a total value of $616,612.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 263,809 shares in the company, valued at approximately $37,181,240.46. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director S Robson Walton sold 350,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, December 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $143.31, for a total value of $50,158,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 267,693,635 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $38,363,174,831.85. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 8,831,902 shares of company stock worth $1,312,822,421. Insiders own 47.06% of the company’s stock.

    Walmart Stock Up 0.3 %

    NYSE WMT opened at $145.29 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $146.42 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $137.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.23. Walmart Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $117.27 and a fifty-two week high of $160.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $391.82 billion, a PE ratio of 44.84, a PEG ratio of 4.35 and a beta of 0.54.

    Walmart (NYSE:WMT – Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 15th. The retailer reported $1.50 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.32 by $0.18. Walmart had a return on equity of 19.54% and a net margin of 1.49%. The company had revenue of $152.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $146.80 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.45 EPS. Walmart’s revenue was up 8.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Walmart Inc. will post 6.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

    Walmart announced that its board has authorized a share buyback plan on Tuesday, November 15th that authorizes the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the retailer to repurchase up to 5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

    Walmart Company Profile

    (Get Rating)

    Walmart Inc engages in the operation of retail, wholesale, and other units worldwide. The company operates through three segments: Walmart U.S., Walmart International, and Sam’s Club. It operates supercenters, supermarkets, hypermarkets, warehouse clubs, cash and carry stores, and discount stores; membership-only warehouse clubs; ecommerce websites, such as walmart.com, walmart.com.mx, walmart.ca, flipkart.com, and samsclub.com; and mobile commerce applications.

    Further Reading

    Want to see what other hedge funds are holding WMT? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT – Get Rating).

    Institutional Ownership by Quarter for Walmart (NYSE:WMT)

    Receive News & Ratings for Walmart Daily – Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts’ ratings for Walmart and related companies with MarketBeat.com’s FREE daily email newsletter.

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  • 18 stock picks in a ‘Goldilocks’ scenario for U.S. consumers

    18 stock picks in a ‘Goldilocks’ scenario for U.S. consumers

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    It may not have been a surprise to see the consumer discretionary sector of the S&P 500 get hammered last year amid talk of a looming recession while the Federal Reserve jacked up interest rates to push back against inflation.

    But the stock market always looks ahead. Following a decline of 19.4% for the S&P 500
    SPX,
    +0.42%
    in 2022 and a 37.6% drop for the benchmark index’s consumer discretionary sector, this may be the time to begin looking for bargains.

    And now, analysts at Jefferies have lifted the sector to a “bullish” rating.

    In a note to clients on Jan. 10, Jefferies’ global equity strategist, Sean Darby, wrote: “A Goldilocks scenario might be unfolding for the U.S. consumer — falling inflation but steady employment conditions.”

    He sees consumer confidence improving, in part because “households are still sitting on [about] $1.4 trillion of Covid savings.”

    Darby pointed to a list of 18 consumer discretionary stocks favored by Jefferies analysts that was published on Jan. 6. Those are listed below, along with three stocks in the sector the analysts rate “underperform.”

    The ratings of the Jefferies analysts for individual stocks is based on their 12-month outlooks for the companies, in keeping with Wall Street tradition.

    So we have added another list further down, showing which companies in the S&P 500 consumer discretionary sector are expected by analysts polled by FactSet to increase sales the most through 2024.

    The Jefferies 18

    Here are the 18 consumer discretionary stocks recommended by Jefferies analysts with “buy” ratings on Jan. 6, sorted by how much upside the firm sees for the shares from closing prices on Jan. 9:

    Company

    		 Ticker

    		 Jan. 9 price

    		 Jefferies price target

    		 Implied 12-month upside potential

    		 Three-year estimated sales CAGR through 2022

    		 Two-year estimated sales CAGR through 2024
    Topgolf Callaway Brands Corp.

    		 MODG,
    -0.22%         		$20.76

    		 $56

    		 170%

    		 32.8%

    		 10.0%
    Bloomin’ Brands Inc.

    		 BLMN,
    +3.87%         		$22.08

    		 $35

    		 59%

    		 2.4%

    		 3.7%
    Coty Inc. Class A

    		 COTY,
    +1.23%         		$9.38

    		 $14

    		 49%

    		 -7.1%

    		 3.7%
    MGM Resorts International

    		 MGM,
    +1.71%         		$37.64

    		 $56

    		 49%

    		 -0.1%

    		 6.6%
    Chewy Inc. Class A

    		 CHWY,
    +1.63%         		$40.13

    		 $57

    		 42%

    		 28.0%

    		 10.6%
    Planet Fitness Inc. Class A

    		 PLNT,
    +0.69%         		$82.36

    		 $115

    		 40%

    		 10.4%

    		 13.9%
    Molson Coors Beverage Co. Class B

    		 TAP,
    +0.67%         		$50.21

    		 $69

    		 37%

    		 0.5%

    		 1.4%
    Fox Factory Holding Corp.

    		 FOXF,
    +3.95%         		$99.90

    		 $135

    		 35%

    		 28.1%

    		 6.6%
    Hasbro Inc.

    		 HAS,
    +0.99%         		$63.70

    		 $85

    		 33%

    		 9.1%

    		 3.6%
    Hostess Brands Inc. Class A

    		 TWNK,
    +0.33%         		$23.10

    		 $30

    		 30%

    		 14.2%

    		 5.0%
    Lowe’s Cos. Inc.

    		 LOW,
    +0.08%         		$199.44

    		 $250

    		 25%

    		 10.6%

    		 -1.9%
    Walmart Inc.

    		 WMT,
    -0.27%         		$144.95

    		 $175

    		 21%

    		 4.9%

    		 3.3%
    Dollar General Corp.

    		 DG,
    -0.26%         		$241.05

    		 $285

    		 18%

    		 10.9%

    		 6.7%
    Church & Dwight Co. Inc.

    		 CHD,
    -1.17%         		$82.25

    		 $97

    		 18%

    		 7.0%

    		 4.6%
    McDonald’s Corp.

    		 MCD,
    +0.39%         		$267.25

    		 $315

    		 18%

    		 2.4%

    		 4.0%
    Estee Lauder Cos. Inc. Class A

    		 EL,
    +0.39%         		$261.63

    		 $304

    		 16%

    		 2.8%

    		 5.8%
    Mondelez International Inc. Class A

    		 MDLZ,
    -0.04%         		$67.24

    		 $75

    		 12%

    		 6.3%

    		 4.1%
    Tapestry Inc.

    		 TPR,
    +0.73%         		$41.25

    		 $45

    		 9%

    		 3.3%

    		 3.2%
    Sources: Jefferies, FactSet

    Click on the tickers for more information about the companies.

    Click here for Tomi Kilgore’s detailed guide to the wealth of information available for free on the MarketWatch quote page.

    The two right-most columns on the table show estimated compound annual growth rates (CAGR) for the companies over the past three calendar years and expected sales CAGR for two years through calendar 2024, based on the companies’ financial reports and consensus estimates among analysts polled by FactSet.

    (We used calendar-year numbers, some of which are estimated by FactSet for prior years, because some companies have fiscal years or even months that don’t match the calendar.)

    The stock pick with the highest 12-month upside potential, based on Jefferies’ price target, is Topgolf Callaway Brands Corp.
    MODG,
    -0.22%    .
    This company has the highest estimated three-year sales CAGR on the list, and has the third-highest projected sales CAGR through 2024, after Planet Fitness Inc.
    PLNT,
    +0.69%
    and Chewy Inc.
    CHWY,
    +1.63%    .

    On Jan. 6, the Jefferies analysts also listed three stocks in the sector they rated “underperform.” Here they are, sorted by how much the analysts expect the stocks to decline over the next 12 months:

    Company

    		 Ticker

    		 Jan. 9 price

    		 Jefferies price target

    		 Implied 12-month upside potential

    		 Three-year estimated sales CAGR through 2022

    		 Two-year estimated sales CAGR through 2024
    Lululemon Athletica Inc.

    		 LULU,
    +2.98%         		$298.66

    		 $200

    		 -33%

    		 26.3%

    		 14.6%
    Williams-Sonoma Inc.

    		 WSM,
    +1.75%         		$122.17

    		 $98

    		 -20%

    		 14.1%

    		 -0.3%
    Harley-Davidson Inc.

    		 HOG,
    +0.35%         		$43.25

    		 $39

    		 -10%

    		 -2.8%

    		 4.4%
    Sources: Jefferies, FactSet
    Screen of consumer discretionary sales growth

    A look head at which companies are expected to increase sales the most over the next two years might serve as a good starting point for your own research.

    Bear in mind that some of the companies in travel-related industries suffered declining sales for three years through 2022 because of the coronavirus pandemic. Some of those are on this new list of 20 stocks in the S&P 500 consumer discretionary sector expected to show the highest two-year sales CAGR through calendar 2024:

    Company

    		 Ticker

    		 Two-year estimated sales CAGR through 2024

    		 Three-year estimated sales CAGR through 2022

    		 Share “buy” ratings

    		 Jan. 9 price

    		 Consensus price target

    		 Implied 12-month upside potential
    Las Vegas Sands Corp.

    		 LVS,
    +1.59%         		59.2%

    		 -32.6%

    		 79%

    		 $52.78

    		 $53.53

    		 1%
    Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd.

    		 NCLH,
    +1.67%         		39.6%

    		 -9.3%

    		 44%

    		 $13.78

    		 $16.96

    		 23%
    Carnival Corp.

    		 CCL,
    +1.64%         		35.2%

    		 -14.7%

    		 30%

    		 $9.47

    		 $10.11

    		 7%
    Tesla Inc.

    		 TSLA,
    -1.83%         		34.3%

    		 49.7%

    		 64%

    		 $119.77

    		 $232.43

    		 94%
    Wynn Resorts Ltd.

    		 WYNN,
    +2.01%         		29.3%

    		 -17.5%

    		 53%

    		 $94.33

    		 $96.07

    		 2%
    Royal Caribbean Group

    		 RCL,
    +2.22%         		28.4%

    		 -6.8%

    		 53%

    		 $57.29

    		 $66.43

    		 16%
    Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc.

    		 CMG,
    -0.17%         		13.4%

    		 15.9%

    		 71%

    		 $1,446.74

    		 $1,778.81

    		 23%
    Amazon.com Inc.

    		 AMZN,
    +2.61%         		12.2%

    		 22.1%

    		 92%

    		 $87.36

    		 $133.76

    		 53%
    Booking Holdings Inc.

    		 BKNG,
    +0.37%         		11.9%

    		 3.9%

    		 63%

    		 $2,208.41

    		 $2,307.67

    		 4%
    Aptiv PLC

    		 APTV,
    +1.66%         		11.9%

    		 6.4%

    		 70%

    		 $97.98

    		 $117.23

    		 20%
    Starbucks Corp.

    		 SBUX,
    +1.28%         		11.2%

    		 7.2%

    		 42%

    		 $104.74

    		 $103.44

    		 -1%
    Etsy Inc.

    		 ETSY,
    +3.56%         		11.1%

    		 45.3%

    		 50%

    		 $120.99

    		 $124.04

    		 3%
    Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc.

    		 HLT,
    +0.06%         		10.1%

    		 -2.9%

    		 38%

    		 $129.08

    		 $146.17

    		 13%
    Expedia Group Inc.

    		 EXPE,
    +0.39%         		9.0%

    		 -0.9%

    		 50%

    		 $93.77

    		 $125.65

    		 34%
    NIKE Inc. Class B

    		 NKE,
    +0.68%         		8.1%

    		 5.8%

    		 62%

    		 $124.85

    		 $126.15

    		 1%
    Marriott International Inc. Class A

    		 MAR,
    +0.47%         		7.5%

    		 -1.2%

    		 30%

    		 $152.53

    		 $172.81

    		 13%
    BorgWarner Inc.

    		 BWA,
    +1.82%         		7.1%

    		 15.3%

    		 53%

    		 $42.24

    		 $46.93

    		 11%
    Tractor Supply Co.

    		 TSCO,
    +1.06%         		6.8%

    		 19.0%

    		 61%

    		 $217.48

    		 $232.34

    		 7%
    Yum! Brands Inc.

    		 YUM,
    -0.76%         		6.7%

    		 6.4%

    		 47%

    		 $129.76

    		 $137.79

    		 6%
    Dollar General Corp.

    		 DG,
    -0.26%         		6.7%

    		 10.9%

    		 67%

    		 $241.05

    		 $267.54

    		 11%
    Source: FactSet

    Among the companies on this list that didn’t suffer sales declines from 2019 levels, Tesla Inc.
    TSLA,
    -1.83%
    is expected to achieve the highest two-year sales CAGR through 2022.

    Dollar General Corp.
    DG,
    -0.26%
    is the only company to appear on this list based on consensus sales growth estimates and the Jefferies recommended list.

    Don’t miss: These 15 Dividend Aristocrat stocks have been the best income builders

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  • Tesla stock wipes out three-day bounce, falls to lowest price in more than 2 years

    Tesla stock wipes out three-day bounce, falls to lowest price in more than 2 years

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    It has taken just one day for Tesla Inc.’s stock to erase the entire bounce it enjoyed over the last three days trading sessions of 2022, as disappointing deliveries data helped trigger the biggest selloff in more than two years.

    The stock’s
    TSLA,
    -12.24%
    Tuesday drop knocked the electric vehicle maker’s market capitalization to 15th on the list of most valuation S&P 500 index companies.

    On Tuesday, Tesla’s market cap fell below that of consumer products company Procter & Gamble Co.
    PG,
    +0.01%    ,
    with a current market cap of $359.18 billion, and was just below Nvidia Corp.
    NVDA,
    -2.05%
    at $352.15 billion, according to FactSet data. Tesla sat just above Chevron Corp.
    CVX,
    -3.06%    ,
    which was at $336.43 billion. (See list of S&P 500’s 20 most valuable companies as of Tuesday’s closing prices below.)

    Tesla’s stock took a $15.08, or 12.2% dive, to $108.10 on Tuesday, to lead the S&P 500’s
    SPX,
    -0.40%
    decliners, after the company reported over the weekend that fourth-quarter deliveries that came up short of expectations for the third quarter in a row. It suffered the biggest one-day decline since it plummeted 21.1% on Sept. 8, 2020, and closed at the lowest price since Aug. 13, 2020.

    Don’t miss: Tesla delivery-target miss shows ‘demand cracks clearly happening’ that mean ‘numbers could be materially reset’ for coming years, analysts write.

    With about 3.16 billion shares outstanding as of Oct. 18, the stock’s decline shaved about $47.62 billion off Tesla’s market cap, to bring it down to $341.35 billion. That’s a far cry from the peak market cap of $1.24 trillion reached exactly one-year ago.

    After the stock hit the deepest oversold reading in its history based on the widely followed Relative Strength Index momentum indicator on Dec. 27, following the longest losing streak in more than four years, it ran up $14.08, or 12.9%, over the past three days.

    If there’s a bright side to Tuesday’s stock selloff, it’s that even though the price fell below the Dec. 27 closing price, the RSI ended the day at 24.86, which is up from the Dec. 27 record low of 16.56.

    That could be a preliminary sign of what chart watchers call “bullish technical divergence,” which is when prices make lower lows while the RSI makes a higher low. It’s still rather early to make that determination, however, as the stock needs to start bouncing again to see if RSI bottoms above the previous low.

    Market caps of the Top 20 most valuable S&P 500 companies:

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  • ‘Five days that killed the year’: These trading sessions accounted for 95% of the S&P 500’s losses in 2022

    ‘Five days that killed the year’: These trading sessions accounted for 95% of the S&P 500’s losses in 2022

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    Just five trading sessions accounted for more than 95% of S&P 500 index losses in 2022, according to an analysis by Datatrek co-founder Nicholas Colas in a note published Wednesday, as stocks headed for their worst year since 2008.

    He described them in the note as the “five days that killed the year”: Two were caused by disappointing inflation data, while the others were triggered by weak corporate earnings and commentary from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell.

    September 13 (-4.3%)

    On the worst day for stocks since 2020, the release of the August U.S. consumer price index report sent traders into a panic when the data showed annual headline and core inflation running hotter than expected.

    The headline number came in at 8.3% for the 12 months through August, while core inflation — which strips out volatile food and energy prices — accelerated at 6.3%.

    Economists and analysts were particularly rattled by the monthly core inflation number, which came in at 0.6%, double the expected rate of 0.3%, stoking concerns about stubbornly high housing costs as energy prices began to decline after earlier being the biggest driver of this year’s inflation.

    May 18th (-4.0%). 

    Retail giant Target Corp.
    TGT,
    +0.04%
    missed first quarter earnings expectations by a wide margin, elevating worries about the U.S. consumer’s ability to cope with inflation into a full-blown panic one day after Walmart Inc.
    WMT,
    -1.64%
    highlighted similar concerns.

    Adding to the pressure on the market, during an event hosted by the Wall Street Journal Powell acknowledged that “there could be some pain involved” as the FOMC raised interest rates.

    June 13 (-3.9%)

    This day’s punishing selloff was also triggered by the release of CPI data, as the numbers for the month of May came in higher than expectations. The S&P 500 finished the session in bear-market territory for the first time in 2022, down 21.8% from the record highs reached in early January.

    April 29 (-3.6%)

    The market’s decline on this day was also triggered by a corporate earnings disappointment. However, this time, the focus was on e-commerce, and the ripple effects sent many of the megacap technology stocks reeling.

    Amazon.com Inc.
    AMZN,
    -1.16%
    — which like both Target and Walmart is a member of the consumer discretionary sector of the S&P 500 — missed earnings expectations for the first quarter while reducing its guidance. The stock ended the day down 14%, its biggest single-session decline since 2006. Apple Inc.
    AAPL,
    -2.94%    ,
    Microsoft Corp.
    MSFT,
    -0.68%
    and Google owner Alphabet Inc.
    GOOGL,
    -1.48%
    were also down sharply.

    May 5 (-3.6%)

    Markets tumbled one day after Powell assured investors during a post-meeting press conference that the Fed wasn’t considering interest-rate hikes of greater than 50 basis points. Of course, this statement didn’t age well, as the central bank went on to hike interest rates by 75 basis points at the following four consecutive meetings.

    According to Colas, investors can glean some helpful insights about the root causes of this year’s market misery from these five sessions.

    To wit, investors had clearly realized by the spring that stubbornly high inflation would force the Fed to raise its benchmark interest rate more aggressively than it was letting on. Also, inflated expectations for corporate earnings helped contribute to the pain as U.S. consumer spending waned.

    U.S. stocks sold off far more often than they traded higher this year, a deviation from the historic pattern since World War II whereby stocks typically climb far more often than they fall. Through Tuesday’s session,  the index fell during 141 trading days (including Tuesday), while finishing higher during 107 up days.

    The S&P 500 was on track to finish 2022 down more than 20% as of midday on Wednesday as all three of the main indexes were trading in the red, with the S&P 500
    SPX,
    -1.03%    ,
    Nasdaq Composite
    COMP,
    -1.20%
    and Dow Jones Industrial Average
    DJIA,
    -0.88%
    adding to their losses with just two more trading days left in the year.

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  • Virginia Walmart shooter was store manager, police and witness say

    Virginia Walmart shooter was store manager, police and witness say

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    CHESAPEAKE, Va. (AP) — A Walmart manager opened fire on fellow employees in the break room of a Virginia store, killing six people in the country’s second high-profile mass shooting in four days, police and a witness said Wednesday.

    The gunman, who apparently shot himself, was dead when police found him, Chesapeake Police Chief Mark G. Solesky said. There was no clear motive for the shooting, which also put four people in the hospital.

    In One Chart: Chart shows 4-year high for lone shooters like at the Virginia Walmart and Colorado LGBTQ club — but they’re not the worst perpetrators of gun violence

    The store was busy just before the attack Tuesday night as people stocked up ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday, a shopper told a local TV station.

    Employee Briana Tyler said workers had gathered in the break room as they typically did ahead of their shifts. “I looked up, and my manager just opened the door and he just opened fire,” she told ABC’s “Good Morning America,” adding that “multiple people” dropped to the floor.

    “He didn’t say a word,” she said. “He didn’t say anything at all.”

    Solesky confirmed that the shooter, who used a pistol, was a Walmart employee but did not give his name because his family had not been notified. The police chief could not confirm whether the victims were all employees.

    Employee Jessie Wilczewski told Norfolk television station WAVY that she hid under the table and the shooter looked at her with his gun pointed at her, told her to go home and she left.

    “It didn’t even look real until you could feel the … ‘pow-pow-pow,’ you can feel it,” Wilczewski said. “I couldn’t hear it at first because I guess it was so loud, I could feel it.”

    President Joe Biden in a statement said he and first lady Jill Biden “grieve for the family, for the Chesapeake community and for the Commonwealth of Virginia.”

    Gov. Glenn Youngkin tweeted that he was in contact with law-enforcement officials in Chesapeake, Virginia’s second largest city, which lies next to the seaside communities of Norfolk and Virginia Beach.

    “Our hearts break with the community of Chesapeake this morning,” Youngkin wrote. “Heinous acts of violence have no place in our communities.”

    It was the second time in a little more than a week that Virginia has experienced a major shooting. Three University of Virginia football players were fatally shot on a charter bus as they returned to campus from a field trip on Nov. 13. Two other students were wounded.

    “I am devastated by the senseless act of violence that took place late last night in our city,” Mayor Rick W. West said in a statement posted on the city’s Twitter account Wednesday. “Chesapeake is a tight-knit community, and we are all shaken by this news.”

    A database run by the Associated Press, USA Today and Northeastern University that tracks every mass killing in America going back to 2006 shows this year has been especially violent.

    The U.S. has now had 40 mass killings so far in 2022, compared with 45 for all of 2019. The database defines a mass killing as at least four people killed, not including the killer.

    The attack at the Walmart came three days after a person opened fire at a gay nightclub in Colorado, killing five people and wounding 17. Last spring, the country was shaken by the deaths of 21 when a gunman stormed an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas.

    Tuesday night’s shooting also brought back memories of another at a Walmart in 2019, when a gunman who targeted Mexicans opened fire at a store in El Paso, Texas, and killed 22 people.

    A 911 call about the shooting came in just after 10 p.m. Solesky did not know how many shoppers were inside, whether the gunman was working or whether a security guard was present.

    Joetta Jeffery told CNN that she received text messages from her mother who was inside the store when the shots were fired. Her mother, Betsy Umphlett, was not injured.

    “I’m crying, I’m shaking,” Jeffery said. “I had just talked to her about buying turkeys for Thanksgiving, then this text came in.”

    One man was seen wailing at a hospital after learning that his brother was dead, and others shrieked as they left a conference center set up as a family reunification center, The Virginian-Pilot reported.

    Camille Buggs, a former Walmart employee, told the newspaper she went to the conference center seeking information about her former co-workers. “You always say you don’t think it would happen in your town, in your neighborhood, in your store — in your favorite store, and that’s the thing that has me shocked,” Buggs said.

    Walmart
    WMT,
    +0.74%
    tweeted early Wednesday that it was “shocked at this tragic event.”
    In the aftermath of the El Paso shooting, Walmart made a decision in September 2019 to discontinue sales of certain kinds of ammunition and asked that customers no longer openly carry firearms in its stores.

    It stopped selling handgun ammunition as well as short-barrel rifle ammunition, such as the .223 caliber and 5.56 caliber used in military style weapons. Walmart also discontinued handgun sales in Alaska.

    The company had stopped selling handguns in the mid-1990s in every state but Alaska. The latest move marked its complete exit from that business and allowed it to focus on hunting rifles and related ammunition only.

    Many of its stores are in rural areas where hunters depend on Walmart to get their equipment.

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  • Dow ekes out gain, stocks end higher on signs of easing inflation, but Russia’s war in Ukraine intensifies

    Dow ekes out gain, stocks end higher on signs of easing inflation, but Russia’s war in Ukraine intensifies

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    U.S. stocks closed higher Tuesday, but off the session’s best levels, after more data suggested inflation may be slowing and mega-retailer Walmart offered a rosier annual forecast.

    The Dow turned negative earlier in the session after the Associated Press reported that Russian missiles crossed into Poland and killed two people, ratcheting up geopolitical tension given Poland is a NATO country.

    How stocks traded
    • S&P 500 index
      SPX,
      +0.87%
      rose 34.48 points, or 0.9%, to close at 3,991.73.

    • Dow Jones Industrial Average
      DJIA,
      +0.17%
      climbed 56.22 points, or 0.2%, ending at 33,592.92, after touching a nearly three-month high of 33,987.06 earlier.

    • Nasdaq Composite
      COMP,
      +1.45%
      climbed 162.19 points, or 1.5%, closing at 11,358.41.

    On Monday, U.S. stocks finished near session lows after early gains evaporated. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 211 points, or 0.6%, while the S&P 500 declined 36 points, or 0.9% and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 226 points, or 2%.

    What drove markets

    U.S. stocks closed higher Tuesday, after another batch of inflation data showed that whole prices rises were slowing in October for the second straight month.

    The Dow’s brief negative turn came after reports that Russian military bombarded Ukraine Tuesday. In the attack, missiles reportedly crossed into Poland, a member of NATO, the Associated Press said, citing a senior U.S. intelligence official.

    “Geopolitical concerns obviously are never positive for the market,” said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Spartan Capital Securities.

    On Tuesday, oil futures settled higher. West Texas Intermediate crude for December delivery rose to $1.05, or 1.2%, reaching $86.92 a barrel.

    While markets had started to price in the toll of Russian’s nearly nine-month invasion of Ukraine, it had not priced in an potential escalation of the war, said Kent Engelke, chief economic strategist at Capitol Securities Management.

    “Talk about geopolitical angst returning,” Engelke said, later adding, “If there were really missiles shot to Poland and that was really not an accident, wow, that is really  increasing the scope of the war.”

    A U.S. National Security Council spokesperson said the agency was aware of the news reports out of Poland, but that it cannot confirm the reports or any details at this time.

    While international worries clouded the session, there was also encouraging domestic news.

    The U.S. producer-price index climbed 8% over the 12 months through October, the Labor Department said Tuesday, easing from September’s revised 8.4% increase. Last week, stocks surged after the October consumer-price index rose more slowly than expected.

    See: Wholesale prices rise slowly again and point to softening U.S. inflation

    Tuesday’s PPI report helped support the notion that inflation has peaked, at least for now.

    “Today, it’s really about the PPI and the market reaction to it,” Steve Sosnick, chief strategist at Interactive Brokers
    IBKR,
    +3.45%    ,
    said in a Tuesday morning interview before the reports of missiles crossing into Poland.

    Markets ripped higher last Thursday after October’s consumer-price index showed signs of easing. The same dynamic was playing out Tuesday, but the response now has been “a bit more muted” because it’s an iteration on inflation data that investors already had been starting to see, Sosnick said.

    So, is the economy really at peak inflation? It’s too early to say for sure, according to Sosnick. Still, the PPI numbers, paired with last week’s CPI reading “does add evidence to that narrative,” he added.

    Walmart’s third quarter earnings also were buoying markets, Sosnick said. The massive retailer’s beat on earnings offers a glimpse at the minds and wallets of many American consumers. For anyone who worries about consumers “getting highly defensive” and not spending, Walmart’s numbers are “counter evidence.”

    In other news, the first face-to-face meeting between President Joe Biden and President Xi Jinping helped support stocks listed in China and Hong Kong, as some of the tensions between the world’s two largest economies were seen to be easing.

    The upbeat tone from Asia, which included Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company
    TSM,
    +10.52%
    jumping 7.7% on news Warren Buffett had bought a $5 billion stake, underpinned European bourses, which closed higher for a fourth session in a row.

    Read also: Warren Buffett’s chip-stock purchase is a classic example of why you want to be ‘greedy only when others are fearful’

    Analysts increasingly expect stocks to enjoy a positive end to the year. “The near-term picture still looks positive for U.S. benchmark indices and while momentum has reached intra-day overbought levels, this doesn’t imply a selloff has to happen right away,” said Mark Newton, head of technical strategy at Fundstrat.

    Philadelphia Federal Reserve President Patrick Harker said Tuesday that he favored a 50 basis-point hike to the Fed’s benchmark rate in December. Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic said more rate hikes will be needed, even through there have been “glimmers of hope” on inflation.

    Fed Vice Chairman for Supervision Michael Barr said Tuesday that the U.S. economy is likely to slow in coming months, and more workers will lose their jobs, in Senate testimony. The Fed is working with regulators to assess risks tied to cryptocurrency markets, following the collapse of FTX and its associated companies.

    In other U.S. economic data, the New York Empire State manufacturing index for November showed a gauge of manufacturing activity in the state rose 13.6 points to 4.5 this month.

    The yield on the 10-year Treasury note
    TMUBMUSD10Y,
    3.774%
    was down 6.7 basis points at 3.798%. Bond yields move inversely to prices.

    Companies in focus
    • Walmart
      WMT,
      +6.54%
      shares jumped after the giant retailer swung to a net third-quarter loss, due to $3.3 billion in charges related to opioid legal settlements, but reported adjusted profit, revenue and same-store sales that were well above expectations and a full-year outlook that was above forecasts. Walmart shares opened Tuesday at $145.61 and closed at $147.48, or 6.57% higher.

    • Home Depot
      HD,
      +1.63%
      rose after the home improvement retailer reported fiscal third-quarter earnings that beat expectations, citing strength in project-related categories, but kept its full-year outlook intact. Home Depot shares opened Tuesday at $304.06 and closed at $311.99.

    • Chinese-listed technology traded sharply higher on Tuesday, including U.S.-traded ADRs for Alibaba Group Holding
      BABA,
      +11.17%      ,
      Baidu Inc.
      BIDU,
      +9.02%
      and JD.com Inc.
      JD,
      +7.14%
      The KraneShares CSI China Internet exchange-traded fund
      KWEB,
      +9.56%
      also traded substantially higher.

    —Jamie Chisholm contributed reporting to this article

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  • Walmart stock jumps after sales and profit, excluding opioid-related charge, beat expectations by wide margin

    Walmart stock jumps after sales and profit, excluding opioid-related charge, beat expectations by wide margin

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    Shares of Walmart Inc.
    WMT,
    -2.94%
    shot up 6.6% toward a six-month high in premarket trading Tuesday, after the discount retail behemoth swung to a net third-quarter loss, due to $3.3 billion in charges related to opioid legal settlements, but adjusted profit, revenue and same-store sales that were well above expectations and a full-year outlook that was above forecasts. The net loss for the quarter to Oct. 31 was $1.80 billion, or 66 cents a share, after net income of $3.11 billion, or $1.11 a share, in the year-ago period. Excluding nonrecurring items, such as the opioid charge, adjusted earnings per share of $1.50 beat the FactSet consensus of $1.32. Revenue grew 8.7% to $152.81 billion, above the FactSet consensus of $147.67 billion. Walmart U.S. same-store sales rose 8.2%, above the FactSet consensus of a 3.6% rise, and Sam’s Club same-store sales increased 10.0% to beat expectations of 8.7%. Cost of sales increased more than revenue, up 10.1% to $115.61 billion, as gross margin contracted to 24.3% from 25.3%. For fiscal 2023, the company increased its outlook for adjusted EPS to a year-over-year decline of 6% to 7% from a decline of 8% to 10% and for sales growth to 5.5% from 4.5%. The stock has gained 4.4% over the past three months through Monday, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average
    DJIA,
    -0.63%
    has slipped 1.1%.

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  • WMT Stock Price | Walmart Inc. Stock Quote (U.S.: NYSE) | MarketWatch

    WMT Stock Price | Walmart Inc. Stock Quote (U.S.: NYSE) | MarketWatch

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    Walmart Inc.

    Walmart, Inc. engages in retail and wholesale business. The company offers an assortment of merchandise and services at everyday low prices. It operates through the following business segments: Walmart U.S., Walmart International, and Sam’s Club. The Walmart U.S. segment operates as a merchandiser of consumer products, operating under the Walmart, Wal-Mart, and Walmart Neighborhood Market brands, as well as walmart.com and other eCommerce brands. The Walmart International segment manages supercenters, supermarkets, hypermarkets, warehouse clubs, and cash and carry outside of the United States. The Sam’s Club segment consists of membership-only warehouse clubs and samsclubs.com. The company was founded by Samuel Moore Walton and James Lawrence Walton in 1945 and is headquartered in Bentonville, AR.

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  • Kroger and Albertsons Say Their Merger Will Cut Prices. Their Shares Are Tumbling.

    Kroger and Albertsons Say Their Merger Will Cut Prices. Their Shares Are Tumbling.

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    With inflation still an untamed threat, Friday’s announced merger of the grocers


    Kroger


    and


    Albertsons


    will spur debate about whether the consolidation will raise food prices, or lower them.

    The Biden administration’s antitrust regulators are scrutinizing mergers more closely than did predecessors, and an old argument against combinations is that they lead to price-gouging.

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