Despite slower sales growth in the United States, fast-food giant McDonald’s (MCD) reported a jump of 5.1% in same-store sales in May. This growth was primarily fueled by strong international sales, the strength and depth of the company’s dollar menu and its new coffee brands. Unfortunately, this promising news from McDonald’s didn’t do much for the industry as a whole as the PowerShares Dynamic Food & Beverage (PBJ) was down about 0.5% in morning trading.
In the steam of a weak global economy, black gold jumped off of its high horse and retreated below $68/barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Crude oil has been moving in tandem with the stock market, but many experts believe that some speculation has added to the crude rally and it isn’t sustainable. Despite a decline in crude prices, the United States Oil Fund (USO) gained nearly 0.5% in morning trading.
Overall all major market indices were down in morning trading. The Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 0.9%, the S&P 500 dropped 1% and the Nasdaq retreated 1.3%.
Kevin Grewal contributed to this article.