Why Walmart’s results have investors so worried: 'One of the biggest misses in years'

JUST IN: Walmart shares tumble 7% after quarterly results deliver 'one of the biggest misses in years,' with same-store sales growth of 2.6% badly trailing forecasts and raising fresh questions about slowing consumer spending.

Walmart shares just dropped seven percent, their worst day since May.

Here's the strange part. Earnings beat, revenue beat, and the stock still got hammered. The problem was same-store sales, up only 2.6 percent against a forecast of 3.5, and one Mizuho analyst called it one of the biggest misses in years. Add in soft guidance for the quarter and the full year, and you can see the reaction here.

Why does it matter beyond Bentonville? Because Walmart is the closest thing America has to a consumer thermometer, and the reading just came back cold. The CFO says shoppers are stretched thin, with oil up 53 percent this year on the Iran war, and the company is eating roughly two billion dollars in fuel-related costs. Dow futures shed more than 400 points on the news.

When the store where everyone shops says wallets are hurting, believe it.

This is Sara White, reporting for HIT.