Walmart's South Africa Expansion Drives Modest 0.01 Rally as Stock Ranks 55th in 1.21 Billion Trading Volume

On September 9, 2025, Walmart (WMT) closed with a 0.01% increase, trading on a volume of $1.21 billion, ranking 55th in market activity. The stock’s muted movement coincided with the company’s announcement of its first branded stores in South Africa, set to open before year-end. The expansion aligns with Walmart’s strategy to expand its global footprint through localized offerings and supplier partnerships.

The retailer emphasized its commitment to integrating South African suppliers into its supply chain, having recruited small and medium-sized businesses during its April Growth Summit. Stores will feature locally sourced products alongside staples like groceries, apparel, and technology. Walmart International President Kath McLay highlighted the initiative’s focus on delivering “Every Day Low Prices” while celebrating local culture. Digital capabilities are also in development to enhance the shopping experience.

Walmart’s Massmart subsidiary, which operates Makro and Game stores in South Africa, will manage the new locations. CEO Miles Van Rensburg stressed the importance of community engagement, including investments in food security and sustainability. The company plans to announce store locations and hiring details in the coming months, with official openings scheduled for October.

To run this back-test robustly I’ll need to clarify a couple of practical details about the strategy and data universe so we can set up the retrieval and modelling steps correctly: 1. Universe • Should we consider “all U.S. common stocks” (≈ 6,000 tickers) or limit it to a defined universe such as the Russell 3000 or S&P 500 constituents? • ADRs, ETFs and preferred shares -- include or exclude? 2. Ranking metric • “Daily trading volume” – do you mean share volume or dollar volume (volume × price)? • Ranking is done each trading day using the prior day’s volume, correct? 3. Trade mechanics • Entry price: open or close of the ranking day? • Exit price: next day’s open or close? (e.g., buy at today’s close, sell tomorrow’s close? or open-to-open?) • Weighting: equal weight across the 500 names, or volume-weighted, etc.? • Transaction costs or slippage to include? (If none, I’ll assume zero.) 4. Date range • Confirm start date as 2022-01-03 (first trading day of 2022) through the most recent available data (2025-09-09). Once those points are settled I can generate the data-retrieval plan and run the back-test. Let me know your preferences (or feel free to accept default assumptions).