[$$] Costco Joins Rest of Retail Pack (at The Wall Street Journal Online)

Word Count: 420 | Companies Featured in This Article: Costco Wholesale, Wal-Mart Stores, Target Costco Wholesale Corp. had been a refuge for investors sick of watching retailers' shares struggle. That ended Wednesday. Costco warned that its earnings will get squeezed by efforts to keep prices low in the face of rising energy and commodity costs. But the 12% decline in its stock Wednesday also suggests that investors became too comfortable with the idea of discount warehouses as havens from the rest of the messy retail world. While Costco Wholesale's 3.2% share gain in 2008 before Wednesday was... [read full story]