Walmart sees troubling shift in consumer behavior

Walmart has long been viewed as a barometer of the American consumer. As the nation's largest retailer, digging into Walmart's sales is akin to digging into the spending habits of U.S. consumers as a whole. Not surprisingly, during the company's most recent earnings call, Walmart CEO John Furner said lower-income households are feeling increasingly squeezed. "For households earning below $50,000, we continue to see that wallets are stretched. And in some cases, people are managing spending paycheck to p ...