To the Editor: In " Our Roundtable Pros See More Gains for Stocks, Especially Those Left Behind Until Now" (Roundtable, Jan. 9), David Giroux points out that Walmart at 39 times earnings and Costco at 43 times earnings are in the expensive sector of the market, which is true. However, Teresa Rivas in the Trader column (" A Very Costco Christmas Is Good News for the Stock," Jan. 9) noted that investors have been willing to pay up for reliable strong growth stocks in retail. I want to point out that Walmart's global e-commerce business was up 27% as of its third-quarter report. Advertising business was up 50%, and the company just announced a good deal with Google's Gemini.
Anthony Bavedas Shelton, Conn.
Aggressive Measures
To the Editor: My bet is on lower interest rates (" Stocks and Bonds Both Had Good Runs in 2025. Even With Fed Cuts, That's Unlikely in 2026," Up & Down Wall Street, Jan. 9). The Trump administration appears to be pursuing unusually aggressive measures to stimulate the economy, including proposals to cap credit-card interest rates at 10% and restrict large corporate ownership of single-family homes. But why? It could be that the Joe Biden bonanza of stimulus is finally starting to draw down, and that the One Big Beautiful Bill Act doesn't have enough bullets to replace all of the funding lost from the Covid panic.
Kyle Cooper On Barrons.com
A Constellation of Woes
To the Editor: Jack Hough offered up four theories for the struggles of Constellation Brands, but didn't mention that the management team has possibly run out of fortunate bounces (" Are ICE Raids Hurting Corona Sales? Constellation Brands Investors Are Wondering Aloud," Streetwise, Jan. 9). In 2018, Constellation invested $4 billion in Canadian cannabis maker Canopy Growth, then added to the investment in 2020. That decision has cost Constellation's balance sheet dearly. It might not be the reason for the stock's performance in the past 12 months, but Constellation needs to stick to what it knows.
Bob Kargenian Orange, Calif.
Geopolitical Risks
To the Editor: Thanks to Christopher Smart for underscoring the risks surrounding President Donald Trump's bellicose comments about Greenland (" Trump's Greenland Grab Is Already Leaving Scars," Other Voices, Jan. 8). Trump's utterances, coupled with his incursion into Venezuela, certainly give Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping great confidence as they eye Ukraine and Taiwan. Trump has ceded the moral high ground in any discussion of geopolitical interactions and made the world a much more dangerous place.
Bill Gottdenker Mountainside, N.J.
Send letters to: mail@barrons.com. To be considered for publication, correspondence must bear the writer's name, address, and phone number. Letters are subject to editing.
This content was created by Barron's, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. Barron's is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
January 16, 2026 20:21 ET (01:21 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2026 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Comments