Market update: US investors spooked by Walmart warning

The country's largest retailer by revenues fired a warning that US shoppers were under continued economic pressure, while reporting sales declined for the ninth consecutive quarter. Its comments caused a ripple effect in US markets, with shares down in opening trading. The S&P 500 was off 10 points or almost 1%, at 1,194, while the Dow shed 96.12 points to 11,386. However, some of the falls were down to profit-taking after a strong rally over the last three days. UK markets stayed in the red amid US losses, with the FTSE 100 off 0.8% or 43 points, at 5,307, just after Wall Street o...