WalMart Stores CFO says forecast is "appropriately conservative"

By Nicole Maestri NEW YORK (Reuters) - Wal-Mart Stores Inc is determined to maintain its low prices and its margins despite growing pressure from suppliers seeking price increases, its chief financial officer said on Thursday. "The level of requests that we're getting right now for price increases is at the highest level that I can remember," said Tom Schoewe, who joined Wal-Mart in 2000, in an interview. Wal-Mart is notorious for balking at raising the prices it charges shoppers in its stores. But as commodity prices hit record levels this year, suppliers that make the goods stocked by Wal-Mart have raised their prices to protect profits. In turn, Schoewe said Wal-Mart has increased some of the prices in its stores. "We've had to pass along price increases as we've received them," Schoewe told Reuters. "But what's most... [read full story]