Wall Street slid in premarket trading Thursday after Walmart, the nation's biggest retailer and a bellwether for the health of the American consumer, released a 2025 forecast that spooked some investors.
Futures for the S&P 500, Dow Jones Industrial Average and Nasdaq which had been up early, all retreated 0.3%.
Walmart shares tumbled more than 8% even as the retailer topped off 2024 with another strong quarter, beating Wall Street's sales and profit expectations. Investors focused instead on the company's profit outlook for the year, which is as much as 27 cents per share below analyst projections.
Walmart's sales outlook was also disappointing, reflecting a possible spending pullback by consumers amid uncertainty over President Donald Trump’s tariffs on China and other countries that could threaten Walmart's low-price model.
Analysts fear that Americans, already reluctant to put big-ticket items on high-interest credit cards, could pull back their spending further if prices remain elevated.
Walmart's dim forecast for the year dragged down shares of other retailers as well. Target fell 2.4% and Costco slipped 1.7%.
Global shares traded mixed Thursday as worries about U.S. President Donald Trump's tariff policies remain high on global investors' minds.
At midday in Europe, France's CAC 40 and Germany's DAX each rose 0.4%, while Britain's FTSE 100 fell 0.4%.
Major Asian benchmarks declined across the board. Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 dropped 1.2% to finish at 38,678.04. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 declined 1.2% to 8,322.80, while South Korea's Kospi lost nearly 0.7% to 2,654.06.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng dipped 1.6% to 22,576.98, after China left its benchmark interest rate unchanged, in a move it said was meant to maintain financial stability. The Shanghai Composite shed less than 0.1% to 3,350.78.
“The yuan has been under siege, with foreign-exchange outflows surging last month as Trump’s tariff rhetoric sent shockwaves through markets,” said Stephen Innes, managing partner at SPI Asset Management.
Benchmark U.S. crude rose 32 cents to $72.42 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, picked up 38 cents to $76.42 a barrel.
Analysts are watching recent currency fluctuations, with the yen strengthening against the U.S. dollar, at one point to below 150 yen. The Federal Reserve has indicated it may wait a while before it's ready to cut rates.
The U.S. dollar slipped to 149.98 Japanese yen from 151.37 yen. The euro cost $1.0440, up from $1.0428.
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