Wal-Mart

Home / Wal-Mart

Saudi oil policy risks creating perfect storm for Aramco flotation

15 April 2018

Good business strategies generally create good investments over the longer term. And so Aramco needs to ensure it has the best possible strategies, if it wants to maximise the outcome from its planned $2tn flotation. Unfortunately, the current oil price strategy seems more likely to damage its valuation, by being based on 3 questionable assumptions: Oil […]

The post Saudi oil policy risks creating perfect storm for Aramco flotation appeared first on Chemicals & The Economy.

Home / Wal-Mart

Cash poor, time rich US consumers cause retail sales to plateau

16 October 2015

US retail sales have failed to see the rise that most economists, and the US Federal Reserve, confidently forecast at the beginning of the year.  The theory was that lower oil prices would stimulate discretionary spending, and ensure that the long-promised economic recovery finally arrived. But September sales were up just 0.1% versus August, and […]

Home / Wal-Mart

US retail sales hit by declines in income and household wealth

25 August 2014

US retail sales tell a sorry story about the state of underlying demand.  US sales at Wal-Mart, the world’s largest store chain, have failed to grow for 6 consecutive quarters, with shopper traffic falling 1.1% in Q2.  The company’s explanation for the problems is worth pondering by anyone in business: It is facing intense competition […]

Home / Wal-Mart

Time to stop making single-use plastic bags?

7 March 2012

The past few years have seen an increasing number of countries and major companies moving to ban or reduce the use of plastic bags. Now Austin, state capital of Texas, and the 14th largest US city has voted to introduce criminal penalties for any reta…

Home / Wal-Mart

Tesco says ‘Today is the New Normal’

29 September 2011

The world’s leading retailers have been extremely reliable leading indicators for the chemical industry, since the Great Recession began.

They were the first, back in July 2007, to highlight the major changes underway in consumer markets. Tesco, the …

Home / Wal-Mart

Wal-Mart sends a message

17 August 2011

The blog is a great believer in the predictive power of the retail sector.

Wal-Mart and Tesco were the first to spot the downturn in the summer of 2007, a year before it became obvious to everyone else.

Now Wal-Mart’s problems are providing some impo…