Walmart has to increase prices this month, due tariffs, say executives | Walmart

Walmart has to increase prices during this month due to the high costs for tariffs, the managers said on Thursday.

The US buyers will see that prices will increase in the end of May and certainly in June, said John David Rainey, Chief Financial Officer von Walmart, in a CNBC interview.

“We will do our best to keep our prices as low as possible, but given the size of the tariffs, even if we have been announced this week, we cannot put pressure on the reality of the tight retail margins,” said CEO Doug McMillon.

Walmart was the youngest, who granted the profit guidelines on Thursday in the second quarter because of the uncertainty about Donald Trump's tariffs who built world trade.

However, the retailer held his annual sales and profit forecast for the 2026 financial year. He also expects an increase in annual sales between 3% and 4%.

Walmart is a Bellwether of US consumer health. The results offer indications of how the industry navigates the economic volatility of the entrances and extracts in several countries, including China.

This week, the United States and China reached a trade agreement for 90 days, which led the states to sank the tariffs widespread for investors and companies.

The latest inflation data published this week showed that the price increases remained stable in April. However, economists warn that the full effects of the prices on prices can not yet be felt. Many US companies have either lowered or drawn their expectations of the year after the trade war, a more careful approach, since consumers expand their budgets to buy everything from food to significant prices.

The US consumer mood had broken a fourth month in a row in April, which signaled the watchful shopping, while the country GDP was contractual for the first time in three years in the first quarter and asked for the concerns of a recession.

On Thursday morning, Jerome Powell, the American chairman of the Federal Reserve, warned, due to the relocation of the political goals of the Trump government.

“We can enter a time with more frequent and potentially persistent supply shocks – a difficult challenge for the economy and the central banks,” he said at a political conference.

Walmart is known for its everyday strategy with a low price for usage authorizations and foods, which gives the retailer an advantage over the competitors, but with thin margins. It is expected that the consolidated net turnover increases between 3.5% and 4.5% in the second quarter compared to the expectations of 3.46%.

Since the area of ​​short -term results is expanded and difficult to predict, the company holds the operational income growth and profits per share in the second quarter, said CFO Rainey in a statement.

“With a longer insight into the whole year, we believe that we can navigate well and reach our all -year instructions,” he added.