Elgin Area Chamber Of Commerce: Walmart Sales Edge Higher, Jobless Claims Rise, Mortgage Applications Drop

Elgin IL

19 February, 2022

2:30 AM

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Press release from the Elgin Area Chamber of Commerce: February 18, 2022 Walmart Sales Edge Higher Walmart saw a slight uptick in sales in the fourth quarter, buoyed by strong holiday season, though the world's largest retailer by revenue acknowledged it is still navigating the same pandemic-spurred supply-chain disruptions faced by its smaller competitors. "We're being aggressive with our plans and executing on the strategy," said Walmart CEO Doug McMillon in a statement Thursday, referring to moves including the streamlining of distribution and the selling of Walmart's e-commerce technologies to other retailers. For the fourth quarter that Jan. 31, Walmart said revenue rose 0.5% to $152.9 billion from the year-earlier quarter. Net income came in at $3.6 billion, compared with a net loss of $2.1 billion a year prior. For its full fiscal year, revenue increased 2.4% to $572.8 billion and net income grew 1.2% to $13.7 billion. Officials said e-commerce sales grew 11% for the year but revenue was negatively affected mainly by $32.7 billion in divestitures. In the past year, Walmart sold off several underperforming stores and subsidiary businesses in countries including the United Kingdom, Japan and Argentina. Walmart said in July it planned to sell its e-commerce technologies developed in-house to other companies looking to let their own customers buy items online and pick them up at a store. Officials said Thursday that the retailer picked up 20,000 new U.S. customers for its third-party services during the past year, with growth also being seen in Mexico and India. The company has 5,342 stores in the United States, including 4,742 Walmarts representing 702.9 million square feet, and 600 Sam's Clubs, according to their website. Jobless Claims Rise Nationwide claims for unemployment insurance rose slightly in the past week, though they remain low by historical standards as the United States rebounds from the economic fallout of the 2-year-old pandemic. The Labor Department reported Thursday that initial claims for unemployment totaled 248,000 for the week that ended Feb. 12, up from 225,00 in the prior week. The four-week moving average ended the past week at 243,250 claims, marking a decline of 10,500 from the prior week. New claims for unemployment insurance have generally been declining for the past year, though last week's uptick came after three consecutive weeks of decreases. Mortgage Applications Drop A prominent mortgage bankers trade group this week delivered some mixed signals on the lending front, pointing to a drop in residential mortgage applications at a time when commercial and multifamily borrowing has hit a new record. The Washington, D.C.-based Mortgage Bankers Association said its latest market composite index, which measures loan application volume, decreased 5.4% for the week that ended Feb. 11 from the prior week. Refinancing applications were down 9% from the prior week and 54% from the same week a year earlier, while new-purchase applications were down 1% for the week and 7% from a year earlier. "Mortgage rates increased across the board last week following the recent rise in Treasury yields, which have moved higher due to unrelenting inflationary pressures and increased market expectations of more aggressive policy moves by the Federal Reserve," Joel Kan, the trade group's vice president of economic and industry forecasting, said in a statement. "The 30-year fixed rate saw the largest single-week increase since March 2020 and was above the 4 percent mark for the first time since 2019," Kan said. The trade group said factors including interest rate trends caused overall mortgage credit availability to decline 0.9% in January from the prior month amid tightening lending standards. Still, borrowing tied to commercial and multifamily properties jumped 79% in the fourth quarter compared with the year-earlier period, capping a record year for loan originations. Preliminary data showed full-year 2021 commercial loan originations topping 2020's by 67%. The mortgage bankers' group tracks shifts in borrowing through surveys but did not cite dollar figures in this week's reports. Source: www.CoStar.com This press release was produced by the Elgin Area Chamber of Commerce. The views expressed here are the author's own.