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By Kristin Myers, Editor-in-Chief

What's Happening Today

It seems that many of us are still shopping, as Walmart reported higher sales than analysts expected this morning. We're keeping an eye on earnings from Walmart, Target, Home Depot, and other retail giants this week, as well as the Census Bureau's retail sales report due tomorrow, since retail spending accounts for a large part of the U.S. economy.

In its latest quarterly report, Walmart reported revenue grew 8.4%, while online sales also jumped, driven by increasing grocery sales. But Walmart said attempts to shift inventory by cutting prices, along with more shoppers buying food instead of other items, put pressure on future profits. Home Depot also saw an increase in sales for the second quarter and reaffirmed its outlook for the remainder of the year—the company expects total sales for the entire year to grow by 3%.

I don't normally do deep dives into quarterly reports, but major retailers like Walmart, Target, and Home Depot could offer us important signals about where the U.S. economy is headed. When the retail sector does well, it means Americans are continuing to go shopping. And if we all keep buying, that means the economy can continue to grow.

Shares of Walmart were up over 7% on the news, boosting shares of other retailers like Target, as Walmart's results raise the likelihood that Target might also beat estimates. Details from the government's retail sales report for July, due tomorrow, will also provide a broader snapshot of consumer spending around the country. If retail spending gives us a positive surprise like the labor market did, stocks could soar on optimism that a recession isn't here (yet).

Separately, a report from the Census Bureau showed that new residential home construction ("housing starts") dropped a steep 9.6% in July as high construction costs continue to weigh on homebuilders. Permits to build homes also dropped by 1.3% last month. As higher prices and mortgage rates lead more prospective buyers to choose to sit on the sidelines (or cancel sales altogether), builders have been feeling less optimistic about the housing market.

- Kristin

Editors' Picks

Home Building Dropped Sharply in July (The Wall Street Journal)

Majority of Americans Say They're Worried About Being Able to Pay for Housing (CNN Business)

America's $7 Trillion Retirement Crisis Is Only Getting Worse (Bloomberg)

Review Your 401(k) and IRA To Maximize Saving (The Balance)

How To Talk to Your Parents About Estate Planning (The Balance)

Falling Oil Prices Defy Predictions. But What About the Next Chapter? (The New York Times)

Does Financing a Car Affect Your Car Insurance? (The Balance)

Term of the Day

Beneficiary

When you open a financial account that will exist after your death, you will usually be asked to designate a beneficiary. This designation is included as part of the paperwork for that account.

A beneficiary designation usually supersedes (or overpowers) the instructions in a will, so the will only applies to assets that do not have a named beneficiary.

Any major event in your life or that of your beneficiary can create changes that impact you or your beneficiary. Beneficiary designations should be reviewed regularly, especially after major life events such as marriage, divorce, birth of a child, or the death of a spouse, partner, or a beneficiary you have already designated.

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Off the Charts

You may be familiar with the S&P 500, an index of 500 of the largest publicly traded companies in the U.S. But another widely cited benchmark that's less of a household name is the Russell 2000 Index. The Russell 2000 is a subset of the Russell 3000, which includes the 3,000 largest publicly held companies in the U.S. by market capitalization, and the Russell 2000 tracks the smallest 2,000 among them. Here's how the major sectors of the Russell 2000 broke down at the end of 2021.