Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Here's your Midday Brief for Thursday, February 19th. I'm Alex Ocele for The Wall Street Journal. Walmart is no longer the country's largest company by revenue after falling behind Amazon for the first time. That's despite reporting strong growth in the most recent quarter. The company says U.S.
comparable sales, a key retail metric, rose 4.6 percent. It attracted more shoppers to its groceries and online delivery. As Walmart's new CEO John Ferner takes over, his challenge will be maintaining years of quarterly sales growth. The U.S.
Chapter 2: Why is Walmart no longer the largest company by revenue in America?
imported a record $4.33 trillion in goods and services last year. And a new report from the Commerce Department out today shows that the annual trade deficit was nearly unchanged from 2024 at just over $900 billion. That's despite major shifts in trade policy. The Trump administration's April tariffs targeted the trade gap in goods, but the goods deficit still climbed to a record $1.24 trillion.
And Nissan is recalling over 300,000 SUVs over potential faulty gears and engine failure risks in certain models that could increase the chances of a crash. Dealers will reprogram software and replace parts for owners of the SUVs, a compact crossover called Rogue, to fix the problems.
Heads up, an artificial intelligence tool helped us make this episode by creating summaries that were based on WSJ reporting and then reviewed and adapted by an editor. We'll have more coverage of the day's news on the WSJ's What's News podcast. You can add it to your playlist on your smart speaker or listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.