Wal-Mart says climate 'difficult'

The Chief Executive of Wal-Mart, Mike Duke, says the sales environment "continues to be difficult".

The world's largest supermarket, which owns Asda in the UK, saw sales slip 0.4% in the August-to-October period at stores open for more than a year.

This comes despite the retailer lowering prices as customers battle rising unemployment. The US jobless rate is now at 10.2%.

However, profit rose more than expected, up 3.2% to $3.24bn (£1.9bn)

Mr Duke also said that customer traffic was up throughout the company and that the firm "gained market share, especially in the United States, the United Kingdom and Mexico".

Wal-Mart has said it will slash prices in the run-up to Christmas, taking on rivals such as Amazon.com and Target.

The company says its customers have not yet seen the benefits from the US economy coming out of recession.

Its UK business, Asda, performed particularly well. Sales there grew 5.6% in the quarter.

The chief financial officer, Judith McKenna, said all parts of the business - food, home and leisure, and clothing - were outperforming their respective markets.

Asda has pledged to save customers £150m ($248m) this Christmas.