November 28, 2006
The sky is falling!
I guess that Wal-Mart's same store sales is now a new leading economic indicator.
Over Thanksgiving their same store sales dropped 0.1% (a tenth of one percent) and the stock market reacted with a huge sell-off.
I don't see the big deal as perhaps shoppers decided to go elsewhere to shop... at my local Wal-Mart, one would want to avoid the store on Black Friday to avoid being shot.
I believe this is a minor correction and that the market is going to continue to do well for the next few months. It's a good time to buy anything other than precious metals.
(p.s. My short call on Google was correct.)
Posted by megabeth at November 28, 2006 10:00 AM
What also makes no sense is the bad press Walmart gets almost to the point of being demonized. Yet politicians trashing the store call up and want special treatment, it is suddenly the leading economic indicator, and a .1% difference is treated like a national crisis. What if it was a +.1% above the prediction? Is that a booming and robust economy that can't be held down?
Frankly, I rarely trust polls and these graphs until I can see what they are based on. So the guy missed his prediction by .1%... that's actually pretty good. If Walmart sales were 20% off, then I would want to look at what happened and might think it meant something.
Posted by: Outlaw3 at November 28, 2006 11:47 AM
Other big boxes have caught up with Bentonville. Target, Dick's, Costco have all figured out ways to make their experience just as efficient and more pleasant in many cases. Wal Mart's time has come and gone as sure as the Stanley Steamer. Google is overpriced, though. For me, at least.
Posted by: rankin' rob at November 28, 2006 08:31 PM
Probably if the difference were +.1%, then the same thing would happen (a selling frenzy).
I can't afford Google either, unless it's play money. One of my simulation accounts started with $10MM cash.
Posted by: megabeth at November 29, 2006 10:12 PM
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