Wal-Mart’s Modest Profits

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Wal-Mart Stores Inc announced a new US$15-billion repurchase plan at its annual meeting on Friday and emphasized the advancement opportunities its workers have, even as a small but vocal group of workers complained that they cannot make enough money working for the world’s largest retailer.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world’s largest retailer, projected first-quarter profit that trailed analysts’ estimates as an increase in the payroll tax curtails spending among its lower-income shoppers. Earnings per share in the current quarter will be $1.11 to $1.16, the Bentonville, Arkansas-based company said today in a statement. Analysts projected $1.19, the average of 18 estimates compiled by Bloomberg.

NEW YORK (AP) — Wal-Mart Stores Inc. once again leads Fortune's list of the 500 biggest U.S. companies by revenue, as the world's biggest retailer succeeded in posting strong growth despite a challenging economy for its shoppers.

OTTAWA — CIBC chief executive Gerald McCaughey received a bit of a rough ride at the chartered bank’s annual meeting Thursday, and it had little to do with 2012’s modest performance. The head of one of Canada’s biggest financial institutions was the subject of several complaints from the floor about his compensation and that of the bank’s other four named executive officers at the sparsely attended meeting.

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama has tapped Wal-Mart’s Sylvia Mathews Burwell as his next budget chief, thrusting her into the center of Washington’s heated partisan budget battles and is filling vacancies at the Energy Department and Environmental Protection Agency, an official says. A White House official said Obama will announce Burwell’s nomination to lead the Office of Management and Budget during a White House ceremony Monday morning, a White House official said.

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama has tapped Wal-Mart’s Sylvia Mathews Burwell as his next budget chief, thrusting her into the center of Washington’s heated partisan budget battles and is filling vacancies at the Energy Department and Environmental Protection Agency, an official says. A White House official said Obama will announce Burwell’s nomination to lead the Office of Management and Budget during a White House ceremony Monday morning, a White House official said.

NEW YORK — Wal-Mart Stores Inc. offered a weak business outlook Thursday as new economic challenges for its low-income shoppers start to take a toll. The world’s largest retailer reported an 8.6 percent increase in profit for the fourth quarter which includes the crucial holiday season. But higher gasoline prices, late tax refunds and the payroll tax increase have it wary about the coming year. Wal-Mart, based in Bentonville, Ark., is considered an economic bellwether because the retailer accounts for nearly 10 percent of nonautomotive retail spending in the U.S.

NEW YORK — Wal-Mart Stores Inc. offered a weak business outlook Thursday as new economic challenges for its low-income shoppers start to take a toll. The world’s largest retailer reported an 8.6 percent increase in profit for the fourth quarter which includes the crucial holiday season. But higher gasoline prices, late tax refunds and the payroll tax increase have it wary about the coming year. Wal-Mart, based in Bentonville, Ark., is considered an economic bellwether because the retailer accounts for nearly 10 percent of nonautomotive retail spending in the U.S.