3.31.2011

Walmart US CEO Bill Simon says serious inflation coming

He would know.
U.S. consumers face "serious" inflation in the months ahead for clothing, food and other products, the head of Wal-Mart's U.S. operations warned Wednesday.

[...] inflation is "going to be serious," Wal-Mart U.S. CEO Bill Simon said during a meeting with USA TODAY's editorial board. "We're seeing cost increases starting to come through at a pretty rapid rate."

Along with steep increases in raw material costs, John Long, a retail strategist at Kurt Salmon, says labor costs in China and fuel costs for transportation are weighing heavily on retailers. He predicts prices will start increasing at all retailers in June.

Will start in June? We're up 1.9% in the first quarter on BPP, or a 7.8% annual rate already! You mean it's gonna get worse?

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Nailed it!

July 5 :