Walmart posts gains despite tariff pressures; Existing home sales rise

Walmart’s latest quarterly sales grew 4.8% from a year earlier, topping analyst estimates, as the world’s largest retailer projected similar growth numbers for the full fiscal year. But the Bentonville, Arkansas-based operator of more than 10,000 stores is carefully gauging the effects of import tariffs that are weighing on profits of major retailers, and it is raising prices as needed.

“There are certainly areas where we have fully absorbed the impact of higher tariff costs,” Walmart Chief Financial Officer John David Rainey told CNBC in an interview Thursday. “There are other areas where we’ve had to pass some of those costs along.”

During an earnings call with analysts, Walmart CEO Doug McMillon said middle- and lower-income households have cut back on some discretionary items in response to tariff-spurred price increases. The company reported second-quarter net income of $7.3 billion, down 8.2% from a year earlier, on total sales of $177.4 billion.

Neil Saunders, managing director of retail consulting firm GlobalData, said Walmart has navigated a difficult climate better than most of its rivals. It has not only drawn from a wide range of customer demographics seeking low prices, but also made improvements to its stores, merchandise assortment and in-house product brands, Saunders said in a statement Thursday.

July’s U.S. sales of existing single-family homes posted increases of 2% from the prior month and 0.8% from a year earlier, the National Association of Realtors reported Thursday. Homes sold at a rate of about 4 million units, based on seasonally adjusted annual figures.

“The ever-so-slight improvement in housing affordability is inching up home sales,” NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun said in a statement. He noted that the slim 0.2% annual rise in the median sales price, reaching $422,400 in July, “suggests that roughly half the country is experiencing price reductions.”

Mortgage rates have been easing but remain elevated by standards of recent years. The average rate for 30-year, fixed-rate loans was 6.58% for the week ended Aug. 21, unchanged from the prior week and slightly higher than the year-earlier average of 6.46%, according to the latest lender survey by government-backed loan agency Freddie Mac.