By Jessica Wohl

(Reuters) – Target Corp (TGT.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) cut its full-year profit forecast on Wednesday while turning in a weak first quarter with disappointing sales, as a chilly start to spring kept shoppers from buying seasonal items like clothing.

Target warned in April its first-quarter results would be weaker than anticipated, and its performance was even worse than revised Wall Street expectations.

NEW YORK/CHICAGO (Reuters) – Cooler than usual weather and belt-tightening by shoppers still struggling with higher payroll taxes and stubborn unemployment dampened sales last quarter at chains from Macy’s Inc (M.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) to Wal-Mart Stores Inc (WMT.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz).

Wal-Mart reported a 1.4 percent drop in sales at Walmart U.S. stores open at least a year, and gave a profit forecast for the second quarter that missed Wall Street estimates. The world’s largest retailer expects same-store sales at its namesake U.S. discount chain to be up 2 percent at best in the current quarter.

By Jessica Wohl

(Reuters) – Wal-Mart Stores Inc (WMT.N: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Thursday that this quarter would be challenging and gave a forecast that suggests profit will again miss Wall Street expectations, due in part to costs from its foreign bribery probe.

The company also reported quarterly earnings just below Wall Street estimates, and revenue came in lower than expected. Everything from tax pressures on shoppers to a cool start to spring led to an unexpected drop in sales at Walmart U.S. stores open at least a year. (Graphic on Wal-Mart earnings link.reuters.com/qan28t)

By Jessica Wohl

(Reuters) – Wal-Mart Stores Inc (WMT.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) said on Thursday that this quarter would be challenging and gave a forecast that suggests profit will again miss Wall Street expectations, due in part to costs from its foreign bribery probe.

The company also reported quarterly earnings just below Wall Street estimates, and revenue came in lower than expected. Everything from tax pressures on shoppers to a cool start to spring led to an unexpected drop in sales at Walmart U.S. stores open at least a year. (Graphic on Wal-Mart earnings link.reuters.com/qan28t)

May 15 (Reuters) – A trans-Atlantic divide between European
and U.S. retailers over how best to respond to fatal disasters
in Bangladesh textile factories split wide open on Wednesday,
with U.S. retailers claiming their European counterparts are
giving labor unions too much control over ensuring workplace
safety.

Some U.S. retailers, including Gap Inc, had said
they would not join the European pact without changes to the way
conflicts are resolved in the courts. The rhetoric sharpened
considerably when a U.S. trade group, the National Retail
Federation, after calls with member companies and other groups,
issued a stinging rebuke of the European-led safety accord.