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Conway Gittens: I’m Conway Gittens reporting from the New York Stock Exchange. Here’s what we’re watching on TheStreet today.
An orderly slowdown in the labor market is solidifying hopes for a September rate cut from the Federal Reserve. Applications for jobless benefits rose by just 4,000 for the week ended August 17th to 232,000. Anticipation is building for Friday’s speech from Fed Chair Jerome Powell. Meanwhile, there’s new data on the housing market. Existing home sales in July rose for the first time in five months. The median sales price rose to $442,600.
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Turning now to another story making headlines: Walmart is adding a new perk to its Walmart+ subscription shopping service: burgers. More specifically, there’s a 25 percent discount on meals at Burger King and a free signature Whopper every three months.
The team-up is Walmart’s latest effort to make a dent in the runaway success of Amazon Prime, which according to third-party estimates has 184 million members compared to 29 million for Walmart+.
Throwing in a fast-food bonus makes sense for Walmart as it is already the country’s biggest seller of groceries. Highlighting the Burger King tie-up in a statement, Walmart said, “This unique benefit is designed to save members time and money, catering to their fast-paced lifestyles where grocery shopping, meal planning and cooking may not always be feasible.”
The Burger King discount also adds to Walmart’s cache as the place to go when money is tight and inflation is elevated. The world’s largest retailer saw a 22 percent surge in U.S. online sales during the second quarter, which boosted total U.S. revenue to $115 billion.
For its part, Amazon has a partnership with GrubHub, allowing Prime members to place delivery orders for free. Amazon Prime, however, costs $139 a year compared to Walmart+, which has an annual fee of less than 100 bucks.
That’ll do it for your Daily Briefing. From the New York Stock Exchange, I’m Conway Gittens with TheStreet.
