• An analyst asked Walmart U.S. CEO John Furner and Walmart CEO Douglas McMillon during the grocery behemoth’s fourth-quarter earnings call whether the company expects food inflation trends to worsen or improve relative to other product categories.
• Furner remarked that food inflation “has been the most stubborn” driver of elevated price levels and noted that only “a little bit” has declined in the past several months.
• “We would have hoped and expected it to have come back more than it has going into this year,” he responded.

Tagged: Economy