Wal-Mart good news isn’t for equities

An employee pushes grocery carts at a Walmart store in Miami, Florida. Wal-Mart, and other employers, have had it pretty much all their own way for decades, as wages fell in real terms despite productivity growth. — AFP

When Wal-Mart starts handing out raises it may be time to worry about equity market valuations.

The US’ largest retailer and biggest private employer said on Thursday it would spend more than US$1bil to hike pay for half a million workers this year. Wal-Mart will be spending some of the money to help pay for an effort to give employees more control over when and how much they work.