Global business news twenty four hours a day at Bloomberg dot com, the Radio plus Mobile lapp and on your radio. This is a Bloomberg Business Flash from Bloomberg World Headquarters and Charlie how at the dial. The SMP NEZDAC all lower today. Stocks did pair their declines and this update brought to you by National realtyt returns on cash in rented real estate find them at n r i A
dot net. Stocks paired losses as the dollar fell, treasuries and gold gained after US employers out of the fewest jobs in almost six years in May, bolstering the case for the Federal Reserve to leave rates lower full longer. SMP five hundred index down six to two thousand ninety nine,
a drop of three tenths of one percent. Shares of commodity producers extended gains, helping the SMP five hundred index trim declines, Gold surging thirty three sixty ounce to twelve forty six, a gain there of two point eight percent. Crewed down eight tenths of one percent, down thirty nine cents forty seventy at a barrel on West Texas Intermediate without down thirty one points a drop of two tenths of one percent and has stack down twenty eight, a
drop of six tenths of one percent. I'm Charlie Pella. That's a Bloomberg Business flash. This is taking stock with Kathleen Hayes and Pin Box on Bloomberg Radio. Shares of Walmart stores down about a tenth of a percent today trades lower by eight cents at seventy dollars and eighty seven cents. This comes after Walmart says it's far to test grocery delivery service with Uber Technologies and Lift all part of Walmart's effort to compete head to head with
Amazon dot Com. Let's find out more from Shannon Petty, piece US consumer reporter for Bloomberg News. Shannon, always a pleasure, Thanks for being with us. Yeah, glad to be here. All right, So you at the meeting, CEO. This was Doug McMillan's effort to kind of say, look, where in the technology business as much as we're in the retail business. Uh, the annual shareholder meeting today, they're going to start this grocery delivery service in Denver and Phoenix later in the month.
Is this really what's going to turn Walmart around as it needed. Well. I think what they're doing here with this grocery delivery and also this grocery pickup service is they're really trying to like fortify the walls of the fort around their grocery business. Grocery accounts for more than half of Walmart's US business, Like, they can't lose in grocery. And when you have Amazon, Google, Um Target dipping their
toes into grocery delivery, I think Walmart knows. Yes, they obviously they sort of missed the boat on the Internet, and you know with Amazon when it comes to general merchandise,
they've been trying really hard to play catch up. But when it comes to grocery, they cannot lose their like they cannot be caught behind, and so doing things like testing this grocery delivery service they announced today where you place your order online, an uber or a lift dry ever in these two cities that are testing it, goes and picks it up, drives it to your house for
a seven to ten dollar delivery. See UM. The other thing they've gone as this grocery pickup service, So you order your groceries online and then um you drive into the Walmart parking lot, you send a notification to the store that you're there, and in less than five minutes, an employee wheels a card out, put them in your trunk, and you never have to get out of the car.
Like they're trying to do all of these things to really make sure they aren't going to be losing any grocery business and hopefully picking up some more, hopefully attracting customers who want a shop at Walmart, who will because of the convenience, and then of course just improving their brand in general with customers. Hey, we're a company with a website and we do stuff online. You're in the parking let's get groceries. Don't you want to stop in
and pick up some kids clothes? You know, and then it will sort of trickle out to the rest of their business. So Shannon share some of the color as you uh report all day at the Bud Walton Arena on the University of Arkansas campus at the Walmart Annual Meeting, because it strikes me too, this seems on a very practical of that's it's huge, you know, get the groceries out there, maintain this business. But isn't also something about saying, Hey, we're not the old Walmart Walmart, we are kind of
hip and cool. Isn't that part of what they are trying to get out to customers and and people who buy their stock. Yeah, that's a really interesting question, and something I've been thinking about the past few days as I've been here is this sort of mix between old Walmart new Walmart. So they've been bringing some things back from the past. Um, these smiley face logo that UM in the nineteen eighties and the nineteen nineties was all over Walmart marketing material. When there was a low price,
they had that miley face next to it. Like that went away in two thousand six, and they announced at this meeting they were bringing that back. A few and maybe it was last month, they brought back the door greeters who had sort of been dispersed to other parts of the store UM to do other tasks the companies that they're bringing those to the door. The old hallmark of Sam Walton layaway over Christmas, they brought that back.
So there's been a number of big things that used to be hallmarks of Walmart that went away that they're bringing back. So in a sense, there's this little bit back to the future, but at the same time we've got all this new tech coming out saying we're also a new hip company. So it's an interesting dynamic. Channon Petty Peace, thank you so very much. Interesting conversation about
Walmart at the annual meeting today. We're breaking news this afternoon Tony Fidel sitting stepping down as the head of Nest Labs, a blow to Google, which bought the company just two years ago. Joining us now is Jack Clark Jack interesting story. You say it's a blow to Google to have Tony Fidel leaving, but they some say he was a problem. So they've been employee complaints about Nest for the last few months. They've also been delays on product.
At the same time, Fidel has said in the blog post that this is a personal decision that's been underway since last year. However, it is a blow to Google to lose a high profile CEO of one of its alphabet ventures, probably the most high profile of the non Google businesses. Jack, is there any indication at the three point two billion dollars that Google paid for Nest is it an acquisition they regret or is it just just an executive issue they're portraying it as an executive issue.
They point out the revenues have grown. Internet of things products are a crucial part of Alphabet's future. But you may notice that Google just announced Google Home, which is a smart AI powered virtual system that will sit in your living room and talk to you, much like Amazon's Echo. That's being done out of the Google business rather than Nest, So they're certainly hedging their bets with another products line not coming from Nest. Now, well, next move for Tony
Fidel any ideas quickly? Well, he's got a start up that he's sort of involved in that does internet connected go karts for children, So he's going to be working on that for a while. He's already been working on that for a few weeks. So it became public, I believe, last month. And he's a lifelong hardware tinkerer. I don't
think this is the last will hear from him? Jack Clark, thank you so very much, Bloomberg News reporter about Tony Fidel leaving Nest two years after Google bought the company, Pam, we got a big day on Monday. Janet Yellen speaks at twelve thirty. What will she say about the economy and future interest rate moves, Yes and a big day beginning on Tuesday for us. Were broadcasting live from Pershing's
Inside sixteen conference at the Higatt Regency in Portlando. Thank you for joining us today on taking stuff, Keep it right here on Bloomberg Radio for Bloomberg Law coming up. Bloomberg Law on Bloomberg Radio, brought you by Pershing's Inside sixteen, The must often event for advisers less than one week away June seventh of June nin