Lee Scott, chief executive of Wal-Mart, is going on holiday. Not for the week or so typical among hard-working Americans but for the whole month of May.

This European-style break obliged Wal-Mart to dismiss speculation that Mr Scott might either be ill or about to lose his job. "Lee will continue to be in charge and just a phone call away," says a head-office official in folksy Bentonville, Arkansas.