Walmart Stock (WMT)

Meanwhile, in the land of the consumer, CostCo ($COST) and Walmart ($WMT) making new lows as bond yields rise and bond prices drop. With earnings per share expectations likely to be taken lower, the equity risk premium’s discount expands. Positions: None.

There were two important observations regarding sector movements on Wednesday, including the obviously large-sized drop in memory and chip stocks (We are short many of these in our High-Beta Tech Short Basket). But less obvious (apologies to The Princess Bride’s Vizzini) was the drop in Walmart’s ($WMT) share price: Walmart Inc. (WMT) 108.82-4.44 (-3.92%) At close: …

Walmart’s ($WMT) shares have dropped from $135 to $113 since mid-May. Costco’s ($COST) shares have fallen from $1095 to $940. Positions: none.

* The consumer is ‘spent up, not pent up’… The same thing that has got into the shares of Walmart (just look at the sickly $WMT chart) and other consumer staples — a weakening consumer. The low-end and middle-end consumer has lived on borrowed time — the dwindling savings rate (now at about 2.6%%) suggests …

Monday's market advance had some conspicuous and worrisome divergences: * Market breadth was poor and leadership continued to narrow (even more noticeably than in the past few days): * The VIX strengthened to 18.38 (+1.19). * Financials were noticeably weak. Homebuilders, restaurants (Shake ...