Walmart trims profit outlook Walmart trims profit outlook ADVERTISING NEW YORK (AP) — Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world’s biggest retailer, said the weak global economy continues to batter its low-income shoppers. The chain on Thursday cut its annual profit and
Walmart trims profit outlook
NEW YORK (AP) — Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world’s biggest retailer, said the weak global economy continues to batter its low-income shoppers.
The chain on Thursday cut its annual profit and revenue outlook for the year after reporting second-quarter results that missed Wall Street estimates. The company’s stock fell nearly 3 percent on the news.
Wal-Mart’s sober assessment adds to worries about consumer spending that arose when Macy’s Inc. lowered its profit expectations for the year after reporting disappointing results on Thursday and Kohl’s Corp. did the same on the following day even after posting solid results.
But Wal-Mart’s results are even more troubling because it is considered an economic bellwether, with the company accounting for nearly 10 percent of nonautomotive retail spending in the U.S. Wal-Mart’s latest performance appears to show that many people continue to struggle in the U.S. and abroad.
In the U.S., while jobs are easier to get and the housing market is gaining momentum, these improvements have not been enough to get Americans to spend. On top of that, Wal-Mart said Americans continue to struggle with a 2 percentage-point increase in the Social Security payroll tax since Jan. 1.
Wal-Mart Chief Financial Officer Charles Holley said the top three concerns among its customers are jobs, food costs and gas and energy prices.
Bus drivers plead for protection
NEW YORK (AP) — Fare increases. Route cuts. General frustration over life. In New York City, there is no shortage of reasons why bus drivers are targeted for assault — an average of 88 attacks every year in the nation’s largest bus system.
Jose Rondon’s 27-year career as a driver came to an abrupt end last summer at a stop in the Bronx, when a man punched him repeatedly without warning, breaking his nose and bloodying his face.
“He managed to pretty much pummel me,” Rondon said. “No driver deserves that — no driver.”
To protect its 12,000 drivers, the Metropolitan Transit Authority plans to upgrade buses with surveillance cameras and floor-to-ceiling partitions that separate operators from passengers. Officials say about a quarter of the 5,700-bus fleet has gotten the upgrades so far, which cost at least $6,000 per bus for partitions and $18,000 for the cameras, and the MTA hopes to double that number by 2015.
But the bus operators’ union says that the MTA is dragging its heels, and that even its projected installations are not enough.
“They have continued to view the assaults on bus operators as just the cost of doing business in New York City,” said John Samuelsen, president of the Transport Workers Union Local 100.
“We share their frustration,” said Stephen Vidal, vice president of transportation, safety and training for the MTA bus department. “We’re actually trying to turn a fleet that had no barriers into a fleet with them. That’s a big challenge. … I wish we were further along than we are.”
Philly’s schools get $50M in aid
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The nearly broke Philadelphia schools will open on schedule next month thanks to $50 million in emergency aid.
But will they be worth going to? That’s the question parents are asking as the district begins to rehire about 1,000 pink-slipped workers, from assistant principals to guidance counselors.
Many say the cash infusion is a paltry bandage on a district hemorrhaging red ink, and that the buildings will simply be shells — without sufficient resources or staff to offer students a safe and adequate learning environment. About 2,500 workers remain laid off.
“We’re all just kind of stunned this could be happening in modern time, that a government would not choose to fund education,” said Lisa Criniti-Ciervo, who has two children in the district. “We’re all just kind of appalled.”
Philadelphia is one of the nation’s largest districts, serving more than 190,000 traditional and charter school students. For several months, it has been working to close a $304 million deficit caused in part by rising labor costs, debt service and charter school growth.
The crisis has led to bitter feuds in City Hall and the state capital over possible new revenue sources for the schools, which have endured repeated financial catastrophes despite being under state oversight since 2001. It’s also resulted in calls for an education funding formula. Pennsylvania is one of three states without one.
