| ECB President Draghi Urges Less Talk and More Talk (On the Same Subject) Posted: 18 Feb 2013 03:49 PM PST When it comes to currency wars, ECB president Mario Draghi made an amusing set of statements as excerpted from the Bloomberg article Draghi Seeks to Quiet Talk About Global Currency War - "I find really excessive any language referring to currency wars."
- "The less we talk about this, the better it is."
- Draghi said he had "urged all parties" to exercise "very, very strong verbal discipline"
- The relative strength of the euro "is important for growth and price stability" and that "to the downside," an "appreciation of the euro is a risk." He said the E.C.B. would assess whether the exchange rate was having an effect on inflation.
Let's see if I have this straight: "The less we talk about currency wars the better, but we need to exercise very, very strong verbal discipline because currency war talk is excessive and the exchange rate may have an effect on inflation." Mike "Mish" Shedlock http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com |
| Walmart Senior VP Asks "Where are All the Customers? And Where’s Their Money?"; "February MTD Sales a Total Disaster" Posted: 18 Feb 2013 09:07 AM PST Here's an interesting story from Friday regarding sales at Walmart that just came my way: Wal-Mart Executives Sweat Slow February Start in E-Mails. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. had the worst sales start to a month in seven years as payroll-tax increases hit shoppers already battling a slow economy, according to internal e-mails obtained by Bloomberg News.
"In case you haven't seen a sales report these days, February MTD sales are a total disaster," Jerry Murray, Wal-Mart's vice president of finance and logistics, said in a Feb. 12 e-mail to other executives, referring to month-to-date sales. "The worst start to a month I have seen in my ~7 years with the company"
Murray's comments about February sales follow disappointing results from January, a month that Cameron Geiger, senior vice president of Wal-Mart U.S. Replenishment, said he was relieved to see end, according to a separate internal e-mail obtained by Bloomberg News.
"Have you ever had one of those weeks where your best-prepared plans weren't good enough to accomplish everything you set out to do?" Geiger asked in a Feb. 1 e-mail to executives. "Well, we just had one of those weeks here at Walmart U.S. Where are all the customers? And where's their money?"
Murray declined to comment and Geiger didn't return telephone and e-mail messages seeking comment.
Both executives attributed the performance to increased payroll taxes and delayed tax returns, which Geiger called "a potent one-two punch," according to the e-mails. Mike "Mish" Shedlock http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com |
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