Walmart

SAN FRANCISCO - Lawyers for Wal-Mart Stores Inc. on Wednesday asked a federal judge to break up a sexual discrimination lawsuit that seeks to represent 1.6 million current and former female employees against the world's largest retailer.

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Several grocery retailers here are following the lead of other chains across the nation by refusing to accept online coupons after being burned by a blitz of fakes that have cost them millions of dollars nationally, the Columbus Dispatch reports.

CHICAGO -- Wal-Mart Stores faces a pivotal hearing this week in a sex discrimination lawsuit that could become the largest ever and force the world's largest retailer to pay female employees hundreds of millions of dollars, Reuters reports.

ST. LOUIS - Negotiators for the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 655 and the three largest supermarket chains in the St. Louis area have reached a tentative agreement on a four-year contract, reports the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

New York -- Sales of private label consumer packaged goods are a large and growing global phenomenon, according to a new study released today by ACNielsen.

LOS ANGELES -- A regional director of the National Labor Relations Board has stopped a union election by a group of workers a Clinton, Md. Wal-Mart, Reuters reports.

Supermarket sales rose 2 percent last year, a rate that notably lagged the gain of 2001 and underscored the significance of hard times and tough competition.

Safeway UK ties in electronic shelf labels and price optimization software for more profitable pricing, more often.