Walmart to Cut 200 Corporate Positions Following Lowered Profit Forecasts

Walmart is joining the recently expanded ranks of companies cutting positions in an effort to fight falling profits. The massive retailer will terminate about 200 corporate workers as part of a restructuring effort largely focused on its Bentonville HQ operations - WSJ and Bloomberg and NYTimes and TechCrunch

Phil’s really leaning into his newfound villain status with news this week that he’s headlining a new antitrust lawsuit against the PGA Tour over the punishments it imposed on him and 10 other golfers for participating in events put on by the Saudi-backed LIV series - NYTimes and WSJ and Bloomberg

Markets bounced back midweek after a few down days, fueled by “corporate earnings and economic data” that both came in “better than expected” - Bloomberg and WSJ and MarketWatch

Some of that good news came from the US services sector, which “unexpectedly strengthened to a three-month high in July on firmer business activity and orders,” news that helped ease “concerns of a broader economic slowdown” - Bloomberg

Gains in junk-bond yields (rallying 5.9% in July) also but the breaks on at least some talk of the big R for the economy - Bloomberg

Across the pond, the BOE just raised interest rates by a half percentage point—the largest one-time jump in more than 25 years. Like the Fed, the UK’s central bank is walking a fine line with the move, trying to fight booming inflation without tanking Britain’s fragile economy - WSJ and Bloomberg and MarketWatch

A series of interviews from Fed officials following last week’s FOMC rate hikes has clarified that the central bank “remains resolute in its plans to push up borrowing costs, slow the economy and retrain inflation.” In other words, no dovish pivot just around the corner - NYTimes

The OPEC+ member nations wrapped their regular meeting yesterday with an agreement on a “small increase in production.” With that move, the oil producing nations have now “raised output to roughly prepandemic levels, but global oil supply is still low, and high energy prices have contributed to skyrocketing inflation around the world” - NYTimes and WSJ and Marketplace

Tesla shareholders will meet today in Austin, TX to discuss a long list of action items. Among them is “a likely shoo-in proposal clearing the way for a 3-for-1 stock split.” As for the rest of the agenda, hard to get too locked in when the man running the show is such a wildcard - Bloomberg and WSJ

Kind of loving the angst about the current state of fashion among U.S. air travelers as well as the practical line-drawing over PJ bottoms and Crocs in this piece from the Times. Those TWA terminal shots don’t hurt the cause, either - NYTimes

Stay safe,

MDR

The Robins Kaplan Financial Daily Dose features top stories and latest news headlines in financial markets, banking, securities and technology topics.