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.

May 15 (Reuters) – An accord designed to prevent another
deadly disaster in Bangladesh’s garment industry drew sharp
criticism from a major U.S. retail trade group on Wednesday,
which said it would constrain legal rights of U.S. companies,
even as more European retailers signed on to the pact.

Wednesday is the deadline for retailers to decide whether to
sign onto a fire-and-building safety agreement for Bangladesh,
led by labor groups such as Europe’s IndustriALL. Almost 30
garment and retail brands sourcing from Bangladesh – including
the world’s two biggest fashion retailers – have signed up so
far, though few major U.S. companies have done so.

By Jessica Wohl

(Reuters) – Wal-Mart Stores Inc stepped up Bangladesh factory inspections while U.S. and European retailers pursued separate accords to try to prevent another disaster in a garment industry where more than 1,200 workers have died in the past six months.

Wal-Mart, the world’s biggest retailer, said it does not plan to sign a fire and building safety agreement backed by some of Europe’s biggest apparel brands because it believes its own safety inspection plans will get faster results.

May 14 (Reuters) – North American retailers on Tuesday
discussed forging their own Bangladesh safety agreement, an
alternative to a legally binding accord that many European
retailers have signed on to, though details of any alternative
accord were still unclear.

The discussions on Tuesday were the latest in a series of
talks convened by large retail trade organizations and including
retailers such as Macy’s Inc, JC Penney Co Inc,
and Sears Holdings Corp, to develop a response to fatal
fires and a factory collapse in Bangladesh last month that
killed more than 1,000 people.

May 14 (Reuters) – North American retailers may join
together on their own Bangladesh safety agreement, an
alternative to a legally binding accord that mainly European
retailers have signed onto, according to a person with knowledge
of the discussions.

The National Retail Federation, one of the largest U.S.
retail trade associations, is set to speak on Tuesday afternoon
with other trade associations and its member companies about a
possible accord among North American retailers, according to the
person.