Bartiromo: Wal-Mart CEO sees stressed U.S. consumers
— -- The largest employer in the U.S. says short-term economic fixes could work, but sustained job creation won't happen without tax reform and new trade agreements. One week after President Obama and Congress launched new jobs plans, Wal-Mart CEO Mike Duke says there are structural issues holding back American companies. I caught up with the man running the largest retailer in the world to find out what to expect for the rest of the year and how to get businesses hiring again. My conversation below has been edited for clarity and length.
Q: September caps what has been a tough summer after the U.S. credit downgrade and a volatile stock market. For the rest of the year, what do you expect to see for the economy?
A: I'm not an economist, so I always qualify any forecast with a simple approach of how I hear customers talking in our stores. And customers today are concerned. If we could start to see improvements in unemployment or lower fuel prices, then I could see that lead to more positive consumer confidence and consumer spending.
The overall global economy is still struggling. Because we operate in 28 countries, we get a pretty good perspective. I'm out visiting stores virtually every week, and consumer confidence is not good. Probably the single biggest topic of concern is unemployment and jobs. This lengthy period of high unemployment is causing that cycle of consumer confidence to really be down. Increases in fuel costs really take from the consumer's spending ability. The U.S. consumer is under a lot of pressure. Meanwhile, we have large businesses in China and Brazil, and that's a different story. Those markets have recovered faster. There's more optimism. A strong consumer and emerging middle class is leading to faster rates of growth in the emerging markets around the world.
Q: So growth is coming from outside of the U.S.?
A: We still see a lot of opportunity in the U.S. But there will be a lot of growth in emerging markets. In the U.S., we have pockets of areas that have very, very little penetration and have millions of customers that just really don't have access to a Wal-Mart store. So we do see growth in the U.S. Outside the U.S., our investment in capital and number of stores, potential acquisitions in emerging markets will be an area of real growth opportunity. I was really pleased recently that we completed an acquisition of South Africa-based Massmart. Even entering a new continent like Africa helps us to reach millions more customers in the emerging market status. We're growing rapidly in China, Brazil and other Latin American countries. So we will be having a greater percentage of our capital invested in emerging markets.
Q: What will it take to get businesses to create jobs in the U.S.?
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