At least somebody’s doing well in all of this

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Wal-Mart has seen its stock hit a four-year high and shopper traffic picking up as cash-strapped Americans look for any repreive they can get from rising fuel and mortgage payments. The grim economic reality facing American families have driven them back to Wal-Mart, where $4 prescriptions and bargain basement pricing has made the retailer more attractive than ever before.

From Bloomberg on the Wal-Mart boom:

Rising gasoline, food and medical costs will drive more customers to Wal-Mart’s more than 3,400 U.S. discount stores and supercenters, Scott told 15,000 shareholders and employees gathered at the company’s annual meeting in Fayetteville, Arkansas, on June 6. The world’s largest retailer is luring customers with $4 prescription drugs and energy-efficient light bulbs.

Wal-Mart said last week that lower prices on groceries, medicines and laptop computers attracted shoppers. Tax rebates also spurred sales as consumers grappled with job losses and the worst U.S. housing market in a quarter century.

Rising costs are “eating up more and more from our customers’ pockets,” Scott, who took the helm in 2000, told shareholders. “Wal-Mart is uniquely positioned to succeed, not just in this economy, but in these times.”