Walmart (WMT.US) executive: The annual performance guidance assumes that sales in the second half of the year will slightly exceed previous targets, mainly driven by price investment.

U.S. natural gas futures maintained their decline, down 2.4%, after the EIA reported an inventory increase that was slightly below expectations.

Spot gold has just surpassed the $4,500.00/oz threshold, now trading at $4,500.03/oz, down 0.50% on the day; COMEX gold futures main contract is currently quoted at $4,555.70/oz, up 0.23% on the day.

Starbucks (SBUX.US): To carry out restructuring, around 220 employees will be laid off at its Washington headquarters. About 120 of these affected employees had previously refused to relocate to Nashville.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration reported that last week, U.S. natural gas inventories increased by 1.6 billion cubic feet.