CHICAGO/BOCA RATON, Florida (Reuters) – Wal-Mart Stores Inc (WMT.N: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Thursday that U.S. sales weakness persisted into early February, as Americans absorbed the impact of higher payroll taxes and gasoline prices, along with slow tax refunds that put some spending on hold.

The weakness came even as the world’s largest retailer reported a bigger-than-expected profit increase, which was helped by a lower-than-anticipated tax rate. Wal-Mart also raised its dividend payout.

CHICAGO/BOCA RATON, Florida (Reuters) – Wal-Mart Stores Inc said on Thursday that U.S. sales weakness persisted into early February, as Americans absorbed the impact of higher payroll taxes and gasoline prices, along with slow tax refunds that put some spending on hold.

The weakness came even as the world’s largest retailer reported a bigger-than-expected profit increase, which was helped by a lower-than-anticipated tax rate. Wal-Mart also raised its dividend payout.

Jan 14 (Reuters) – If you cannot find Tylenol pain reliever
at your local CVS store this flu season, it might be because
that store is no longer stocking it.

CVS this month changed how it stocks Tylenol at its stores
in the wake of manufacturing problems at the drug’s maker,
Johnson & Johnson, that have disrupted supplies for more
than three years.

By Brad Dorfman

(Reuters) – Herbalife Ltd executives defended their business on Thursday as a “legitimate company” with customers outside the network of people who sign up to sell its nutrition products, stepping up the defense against pyramid scheme accusations by short seller Bill Ackman.

The hedge fund operator, who has placed a huge bet that Herbalife stock will fall, has argued that the company is an unsustainable scheme because distributors earn more than 10 times as much from recruitment as they do by selling company products.

Jan 10 (Reuters) – Herbalife Ltd stepped up its
defense against activist investor Bill Ackman on Thursday,
stressing it was a “legitimate company” with a mission to
improve nutrition and help public health.

At a meeting with investors in New York, officials of the
nutritional supplement company described Herbalife as
retail-oriented. Ackman has called the company an unsustainable
“pyramid scheme” because distributors earn more than 10 times as
much from recruitment as they do by selling company products.

CHICAGO (Reuters) – U.S. shoppers went to stores earlier and bought online more than before this Thanksgiving weekend, giving retailers a strong start to the holiday shopping season, data showed on Sunday.

Likely beneficiaries included retailers that have done a better job of combining their physical stores with their online and mobile channels into a seamless shopping experience, analysts said, mentioning the likes of Wal-Mart Stores Inc and Macy’s Inc.