Nov 15, 2019

Walmart's stock has almost doubled Amazon in 2019

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Data: Money.net; Chart: Axios Visuals

Investors took profits on Walmart's stock after its stronger-than-expected earnings report Thursday, but the outlook remains bright as the world's largest retailer again showed growth in sales as it has in every quarter for five years straight.

The big picture: "A 41% gain in e-commerce sales, up from the second-quarter’s 37%, was especially notable," WSJ's Justin Lahart writes.

"And that gain compares favorably with third-quarter online sales growth of 21% at Amazon. There was some concern that Amazon’s shift to free one-day delivery for its Prime members might weigh on Walmart’s online sales growth, but so far that doesn’t appear to have happened."

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Courtenay Brown

U.S. GDP growth revised higher to 2.1% in third quarter

The U.S. economy grew at a 2.1% annualized pace in the third quarter — faster than the initial read of 1.9% — according to revised data released by the Commerce Department on Wednesday.

Why it matters: The revision occurred thanks to an upward revision in business spending, indicating that the economy's slowdown was not as harsh as feared in the face of the U.S.-China trade war. The change means that economic growth accelerated marginally from the prior quarter's 2% growth, but it's worth noting that economists are much less optimistic about growth prospects for the current quarter.

Go deeper: Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz calls for the end of GDP

Keep ReadingNov 27, 2019

Erica Pandey

The techlash zeroes in on Amazon

Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios

On the big shopping days of the year — Black Friday, Cyber Monday and, of course, Prime Day — Amazon once shined with its hyper-efficient apparatus for commerce on full display.

No more. Heightened scrutiny of the consequences of its bigness is beginning to supplant the glowing coverage of its success.

Go deeperDec 5, 2019

Ben Geman

The world may have seen its peak demand for gas-powered vehicles

Photo: Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Sales of gasoline-powered light-duty vehicles in the U.S. are unlikely to ever top their 2016 level of 17.3 million, according to an analysis from the think tank Third Way.

Why it matters: Transportation is the country's largest source of greenhouse gas emissions.

Go deeperNov 25, 2019