{"id":88377,"date":"2016-04-19T14:22:04","date_gmt":"2016-04-19T18:22:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/countingpips.com\/?p=88377"},"modified":"2016-04-19T14:22:04","modified_gmt":"2016-04-19T18:22:04","slug":"woe-mart-the-retail-giant-walmart-has-faltered","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex\/2016\/04\/woe-mart-the-retail-giant-walmart-has-faltered\/","title":{"rendered":"Woe-Mart: The Retail Giant Walmart Has Faltered"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"inves-1696124293\" class=\"inves-below-title-posts inves-entity-placement\"><div id =\"posts_date_custom\"><div align=\"left\">April 19, 2016<\/div><hr style=\"border: none; border-bottom: 3px solid black;\">\r\n<\/div><\/div><h3 style=\"margin-top: 0px;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\">The era of &#8220;always low prices&#8221; no longer translates into always high profits. Learn what we think is behind the shift <\/span><\/h3>\n<h3 style=\"margin-top: 0px;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\">By Elliott Wave International<\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Walmart founder Sam Walton said:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;There is only one boss. The customer. And he can fire everybody in the company from the chairman on down, simply by spending his money somewhere else.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Never were those words felt more acutely for those on the Walmart payroll than right now. Reason being: Over the last year, the eponymous Walmart &#8220;customer&#8221; has, indeed, taken his business elsewhere, fueling a series of epic setbacks for the retail giant:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Store closures, layoffs, and the shuttering of its entire fleet of smaller &#8220;Express&#8221; locations across the U.S.<\/li>\n<li>A near 40% decline in its stock (WMT) before hitting bottom in November 2015<\/li>\n<li>Losing its status as the world&#8217;s #1 retailer to Amazon<\/li>\n<li>And &#8212; the sour cherry on top: The first decline in annual revenue since Walmart went public 45 years ago<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>In the words of a March 31 Bloomberg: It&#8217;s &#8220;the end of an era for Walmart.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Which leaves one question: How the heck does a big-box behemoth go from retail victor to re-<i>fail<\/i> victim?<\/p>\n<p>Well, according to the mainstream experts, the main cause of Walmart&#8217;s woes are many-fold, from falling oil prices &#8211; to &#8211; China&#8217;s flailing economy &#8211; to &#8211; the extinction of the brick-and-mortar store &#8211; to &#8211; the biggest baddest culprit of all, the brawny greenback:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;Walmart profits hit by strong dollar&#8221; (CNN Money)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Economists can always be counted on for providing endless explanations as to why a corporate king gets dethroned &#8212; <i>after the fact<\/i>.<\/p><div id=\"inves-4130829920\" class=\"inves-in-content inves-entity-placement\"><hr style=\"border: 1px solid #ddd;\">\r\n<div id=\"inpost_ads_header\">\r\n<p style=\"font-size:10px; float:left; color:#666;\">Free Reports:<\/p><\/div>\r\n<div id=\"inpost_ads\"> \r\n<p style=\"font-size:15px; float:left;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/goo.gl\/1ApBOV\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/investmacro.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/graph_techs_PD.png\" align=\"left\" width=\"80\"  height=\"55\"\/><\/a>\r\n\t     <a href=\"https:\/\/goo.gl\/1ApBOV\"><b><u>Get Our Free Metatrader 4 Indicators<\/u><\/b><\/a> - Put Our Free MetaTrader 4 Custom Indicators on your charts when you join our Weekly Newsletter<\/p><br><br>\r\n<br>\r\n<br>\r\n<p style=\"font-size:15px; float:left;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/goo.gl\/f3RrHX\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/investmacro.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/cot_pie_80.png\" align=\"left\" width=\"80\"  height=\"55\"\/><\/a>\r\n\t    <a href=\"https:\/\/goo.gl\/f3RrHX\"><b><u>Get our Weekly Commitment of Traders Reports<\/u><\/b><\/a> - See where the biggest traders (Hedge Funds and Commercial Hedgers) are positioned in the futures markets on a weekly basis.<\/p><br><br>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<hr style=\"border: 1px solid #ddd;\">\r\n<br><\/div>\n<p>But in our opinion, one&#8217;s time and energy is better served <i>anticipating <\/i>those turns. Which is exactly what our analysts did in regard to Walmart&#8217;s reversal of fortune &#8212; starting with our <b>September 2013<\/b> <i>Elliott Wave Financial Forecast&#8217;s <\/i>bearish call for Walmart stock:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;We&#8217;ll stick with our contention that the economy is turning toward a deflationary depression. This long-term chart of Walmart is another under-the-radar clue to the unfolding debacle.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It shows the world&#8217;s largest retailer completing a five-wave rally that dates back to the early 1980s. As consumers go on a buying strike <b>over the next few years, Walmart&#8217;s stock should fall by at least 50%<\/b>.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p align=\"center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.elliottwave.com\/images\/freeupdates\/image\/4_13_16walmartshares.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"478\" height=\"416\" \/><\/p>\n<p>From there, Walmart made one more new high at $90.97, after which the anticipated downside drama arrived in full force, with shares plunging 37% to end at a four-year low in November 2015.<\/p>\n<p>Which brings us to the larger issue at hand: Walmart&#8217;s struggle to convert &#8220;always low prices&#8221; into always higher profits goes hand in hand with the underlying trend in the U.S. economy: that of deflation.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<table class=\"body\" style=\"border: solid 5px #EAEAEA; padding: 10px;\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td valign=\"top\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.elliottwave.com\/r.asp?acn=9cp&amp;rcn=aa607&amp;dy=aa041916&amp;url=http:\/\/beta.elliottwave.com\/Free-Reports\/What-You-Need-to-Know-Now-About-Protecting-Yourself-from-Deflation\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.elliottwave.com\/images\/products\/web_ads\/6973-pr-deflation.png\" alt=\"What You Need to Know Now About Protecting Yourself from Deflation\" width=\"85\" height=\"150\" border=\"0\" hspace=\"5\" \/><\/a><\/td>\n<td valign=\"top\">\n<h3><a href=\"http:\/\/www.elliottwave.com\/r.asp?acn=9cp&amp;rcn=aa607&amp;dy=aa041916&amp;url=http:\/\/beta.elliottwave.com\/Free-Reports\/What-You-Need-to-Know-Now-About-Protecting-Yourself-from-Deflation\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><strong>What You Need to Know NOW About Protecting Yourself from Deflation<\/strong><\/span><\/a><\/h3>\n<p>In this free Special Report, you will learn about this unexpected but imminent risk to your portfolio AND you&#8217;ll get 29 specific forecasts for stocks, real estate, gold, cultural trends &#8212; and more (excerpted from Prechter&#8217;s New York Times bestseller <em>Conquer the Crash &#8212; You Can Survive and Prosper in a Deflationary Depression<\/em>).<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.elliottwave.com\/r.asp?acn=9cp&amp;rcn=aa607&amp;dy=aa041916&amp;url=http:\/\/beta.elliottwave.com\/Free-Reports\/What-You-Need-to-Know-Now-About-Protecting-Yourself-from-Deflation\"><strong>Download your free report now &gt;&gt;<\/strong><\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<div>\n<p style=\"padding-top: 10px; border-top: solid 1px #CCCCCC;\"><em>This article was syndicated by Elliott Wave International and was originally published under the headline <a href=\"http:\/\/www.elliottwave.com\/r.asp?acn=9cp&amp;rcn=aa607&amp;dy=aa041916&amp;url=http:\/\/beta.elliottwave.com\/Economy\/Woe-Mart-The-Retail-Giant-Walmart-Has-Faltered\"><strong>Woe-Mart: The Retail Giant Walmart Has Faltered<\/strong><\/a>. EWI is the world&#8217;s largest market forecasting firm. Its staff of full-time analysts led by Chartered Market Technician Robert Prechter provides 24-hour-a-day market analysis to institutional and private investors around the world.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p style=\"padding-top: 10px; border-top: solid 1px #CCCCCC;\">\n<p style=\"padding-top: 10px; border-top: solid 1px #CCCCCC;\">\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The era of &#8220;always low prices&#8221; no longer translates into always high profits. Learn what we think is behind the shift By Elliott Wave International Walmart founder Sam Walton said: &#8220;There is only one boss. The customer. And he can fire everybody in the company from the chairman on down, simply by spending his money [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-88377","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","no-post-thumbnail"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88377","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88377"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88377\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":88378,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88377\/revisions\/88378"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88377"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88377"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88377"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}