The gloom surrounding the US economy intensified on Tuesday as Wal-Mart and Home Depot, the country’s two largest retailers, said they had been shunned by consumers struggling with a housing slump and higher fuel prices. The poor performance by an economic bellwether such as Wal-Mart, which missed analysts’ Q2 expectations and cut profits forecasts for the year, surprised investors who sent its shares tumbling more than 5 per cent – their biggest fall in more than five years. Lex says the woes of the two retailers have several implications for the US economic outlook.

This entry was posted by Gwen Robinson on Wednesday, August 15th, 2007 at 5:42 and is filed under Capital markets. Tagged with home depot, wal-mart. Edit this entry.