Walmart disappointed with its earnings announcement for Q2 2013. The string of retailer disappointments (added to Kohl’s and Macy’s) contradicts the narrative of the strengthening consumer. It also runs contrary to recent readings on consumer confidence (which in the age of QE asset inflation may not be registering what economists believe it measures).

The important points from Walmart were disappointing revenue across all divisions, including international segments. While blaming the payroll tax for a lot of the weak results domestically, the company does admit that consumers, from its perspective, are having a very tough 2013.

Same store sales for the company’s US operations fell 0.3%, the second straight quarterly revenue decline. In the company conference call, Doug McMillon, CEO of international operations, admitted that weakness in both developed and international businesses will, “persist through the remainder of the year.”

Revenue growth for FY2013 was downgrade significantly from 5-6% to 2-3%. Not quite the robust second half Bernanke, Abe, Brazil, China and India have their hopes for.

 

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