Walmart’s 9% Checkout Shock

 

The market sold off Thursday after Walmart’s soft U.S. sales collided with rising Treasury yields, turning a retail warning into a broad risk-off session.  Nine of 11 sectors closed lower as health care and consumer names took the brunt. Crude’s climb reinforced inflation anxiety, while Treasury’s expanded buyback signal failed to tame long-term yields. The Dow surrendered 53,000 as investors found little defensive shelter.  Stocks traders still chased Marvell and Cipher strength against the weakness, but Walmart owned the day’s debate: bargain-bin opportunity or evidence the consumer is finally cracking?  Today's Briefing: Powered by Stocks Community API. After the Bell: Walmart’s rare U.S. sales miss bagged an otherwise stronger quarter  Stocks: Marvell’s Google deal carried $120 billion of conditions  Macro News: Bessent’s bigger buyback signal failed to calm the bond market  What's Trending Now on Stocks

AFTER THE BELL Walmart’s Beat Gets Bagged  Walmart fell Thursday after soft U.S. sales overshadowed an earnings beat, stronger full-year guidance, and a $2.9 billion tariff refund.  The RIP:  $WMT ( ▼ 9.15% ) closed at $103.84 on 4x average volume. Revenue rose 5.9% to $187.94 billion, while adjusted EPS came in at $0.81. But U.S. comparable sales grew just 2.6%, missing the 3.5% estimate as drug-price caps created a 0.8% health-and-wellness headwind. Darn government, lowering drug prices for the good of all Americans /s.  The rest of the report was stronger: global e-commerce sales jumped 23%, advertising revenue climbed 38%, and Walmart raised its full-year sales and earnings outlook. It has already received nearly all of a $2.9 billion tariff refund, which management plans to use to cut prices beginning this quarter. The catch: more than $2 billion in fuel-related costs are coming the other way.  At roughly 40x forward earnings entering the report, investors wanted perfection. Walmart delivered growth—but the comp-sales miss and cautious third-quarter outlook were enough to send the stock to the returns counter.  The Community Read: The $WMT room debated whether the selloff was a warning or a blue-light special →

STOCKS Marvell’s Google Deal Has Strings  Marvell, the custom-chip and data-infrastructure designer, added 5.8% Thursday, extending Wednesday’s 9.9% jump. The company disclosed Wednesday that a July 29 Google agreement covers custom silicon for Google’s TPU ecosystem, with an Aug. 18 warrant tying equity upside to future purchases.  The RIP:  $MRVL ( ▲ 5.79% ) closed at $251.01, up 16.2% in two sessions. Google did not invest $12.2B upfront. It may buy 58.97M shares at $206.58, but 57.61M vest through $500M revenue tranches, requiring roughly $120B in qualifying purchases for full vesting.  The agreement puts Marvell inside Google’s TPU stack across AI accelerators, storage, networking, memory interfaces, and near-memory compute, but it does not mean Google committed $120B or replaced Broadcom. The Aug. 27 report, with $2.71B revenue and $0.93 EPS expected, is the first test of how quickly that framework becomes sales. Stocktwits has already turned $300 earnings calls into the room’s favorite lottery ticket; at 85.5x earnings, guidance has to do more than confirm the party.  The Community Read: The $MRVL room is bullish on Google, inspect the $300 earnings fight -> "$MRVL $GOOGL Marvell Expands Google AI Chip Partnership, Issues Massive Warrant" @AlertsAndNews

MACRO NEWS Bessent Battles The Bond Market  Scott Bessent tried to smooth over the high interest rate debacle Thursday, dangling a big Treasury buyback. Bonds briefly rallied, then sold off again as the market refused to take the hint.  “We’re going to increase the size of the buyback. I would note that it could be more than the 4 billion per issue,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told CNBC Thursday. The RIP: Treasury plans to increase long-term debt buybacks from $2B to at least $4B per issue. The 30-year yield rose to 5.235%, while the 10-year climbed 5 bps to 4.704%. U.S. debt crossed $40TWednesday.  “All we’re trying to do is get people to focus on the fundamentals and not trade the headlines during a quiet period in a thin market,” Bessent said Thursday. “Part of it is signaling here and to show that we believe that the yields don’t reflect the underlying fundamentals.” This is not QE, and Treasury is not erasing debt. It is swapping newly issued debt for older, less-liquid securities to keep the market functioning. Calling yields disconnected from fundamentals while stepping in to “make a market” means the Treasury does not like the price investors are demanding to finance its $40T debt load.

POPS & DROPS Trending Now

$MRNA -24% | Moderna: The drop left the room overwhelmingly bullish

114.9K WATCHERS · 93% BULLISH · EXTREMELY HIGH ACTIVITY

Moderna surrendered part of Wednesday’s record 177% surge as traders repriced the squeeze-amplified personalized cancer-vaccine breakthrough. Shares remained up 109.5% across five sessions, leaving the overwhelmingly bullish room to decide whether Phase 3 validation supports the new valuation or Wednesday’s rally pulled too much future success forward.

$DE +7% | Deere: The beat could not kill the valuation fight

13.5K WATCHERS · 87% BULLISH · NORMAL ACTIVITY

Deere rallied after $5.10 EPS topped expectations and management narrowed its 2026 profit outlook higher. Construction and forestry sales jumped 18% while operating profit surged 84%, but the Stocktwits debate remains whether that strength can overcome weakening large-equipment demand and a valuation already reflecting an agricultural recovery.

$IOVA +13% | Iovance: UBS lifted the target below the stock

19.9K WATCHERS · 80% BULLISH · HIGH ACTIVITY

Iovance reached a 52-week high after UBS raised its Neutral-rated target to $7 from $4, citing Amtagvi’s $91M quarter and 52% sequential growth. Shares finished near $9, leaving the bullish room with an unusual valuation fight over whether commercial momentum already outran the analyst upgrade.

$MARA +16% | MARA: Bitcoin rallied, but the AI question stayed

158.1K WATCHERS · 65% BULLISH · HIGH ACTIVITY

MARA surged as Bitcoin jumped 6.2% to roughly $72,600, lifting crypto proxies including $BMNR and $CIFR. The move rewarded MARA’s mining exposure, but the community still has to decide whether a Bitcoin rebound is enough while its AI data-center pivot waits for a confirmed commercial lease.

WHAT’S ON DECK Tomorrow’s Top Things

Macro: S&P Global Flash Manufacturing PMI (9:45 AM ET), S&P Global Flash Services Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) (9:45 AM ET).  Pre-Market Earnings: $BJ BJ`s Wholesale Club Holdings Inc, $UI Ubiquiti Inc.  After-Market Earnings: $SHMD SCHMID Group N.V. - Ordinary Shares - Class A.