Wall Street Lunch: Walmart Tumbles As Weak U.S. Sales Spark Spending Concerns

Walmart’s Q3 and full-year EPS guidance came in below consensus as tariff refunds are being reinvested into customer rollbacks, signaling near-term margin pressure. Alibaba is also weaker but off the lows after earnings, as investors balance higher AI spending against accelerating cloud growth. Overall, both updates point to cautious outlooks and expense/investment trade-offs rather than a clear positive earnings surprise.

Analysis

Walmart’s Q3 and full-year EPS guidance came in below consensus as tariff refunds are being reinvested into customer rollbacks, signaling near-term margin pressure. Alibaba is also weaker but off the lows after earnings, as investors balance higher AI spending against accelerating cloud growth. Overall, both updates point to cautious outlooks and expense/investment trade-offs rather than a clear positive earnings surprise.