Wal-Mart January sales rise 2.2%

The world's largest retailer -- Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE:WMT) -- said this past weekend that its sales for the month of January rose 2.2% from the prior year based on same-store sales. Same-store sales are considered a key component of retail sales performance and are generally measured monthly -- so that the street doesn't have to wait on quarterly results. That would, you know, be too long of a wait for the "results now" mentality of the market.

Now, with Wal-Mart coming in at under 2% for both December and November in terms of same-store sales results, will the market react to this "leap" in trading today? We'll see -- and Wal-Mart will be setting itself up for a decent but short February I guess. So far today, Wal-Mart is up $0.67, over 1%.

But then again, Wal-Mart did say that it expected January same-store sales results to grow between 1% and 2%, and the company beat that by a semi-decent margin. This Thursday, the retailer will release in-depth January sales details ... but for now, the 2.2% figure will have to suffice.