Before the bell 12-8-06: MCD, GOOG, GM, MSFT, F ...

Posted Dec 8th 2006 8:35AM by Melly Alazraki
Filed under: Before the Bell, Google (GOOG), Microsoft (MSFT), Yahoo! (YHOO), Apple Inc (AAPL), eBay (EBAY), Time Warner (TWX), Wal-Mart (WMT), Amazon.com (AMZN), Ford Motor (F), General Motors (GM), Sirius Satellite Radio (SIRI), McDonald's (MCD), Walt Disney (DIS), Hershey Co (HSY), Dolby Laboratories'A' (DLB)

Main market news here.

McDonald's Corp. (NASDAQ:MCD) released November sales at restaurants open at least one year. Internationally, same-store sales rose rose 6.2%. In the U.S. same-store sales rose 5.1% for the month, European same-store sales rose 8.4%, and same-store sales in the Asia/Pacific, Middle East and Africa region rose 4.3%.

Google Inc.'s (NASDAQ:GOOG) China Co-President, Johnny Chou, will leave the company at the end of December, barely a year after he was hired, putting to rest rumors regarding the matter.

General Motors Corp. (NYSE:GM) decided to sell Belgian-made Opel Astras in North America under the Saturn brand from late next year to the hails of European labor force. "This will lead to a positive contribution for ensuring employment in Europe," Opel works council said. I'm sure the American workers are thrilled for them.

Carphone Warehouse Plc received the go-ahead from the European Commission to buy Time Warner Inc.'s (NYSE:TWX) AOL Internet access business in the UK to become Britain's third-biggest broadband service provider. Carphone will pay AOL 370 million pound ($728 million).

International operations chief of Ford Motor Co. (NYSE:F), Mark Schulz, is retiring. This unexpected announcement marks yet another high-profile executive departing the struggling auto maker.

Following Cramer's Mad Money show on CNBC, some stocks to watch are Dolby Laboratories (NYSE:DLB) and eBay Inc. (NASDAQ:EBAY) that Cramer recommended. Conversely, The Hershey Co. (NYSE:HSY), Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. (NASDAQ:SIRI) and Panera Bread Co. (NASDAQ:PNRA) Cramer said were a sell.

Backed by Apple Computer Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), Microsoft Corp.'s (NASDAQ:MSFT) Microsoft Office format was approved as international standard for data. "Ecma International announced Thursday its approval of Office Open XML as a standard, touting the step as vital for document creation and archiving."

New England Patriots star Tom Brady is suing Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) over the use of his photo in an advertisement for fantasy football.

Further damaging Wal-Mart's image, but according to a Hong Kong-based labor group, several Chinese suppliers of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE:WMT) fail to pay legally required wages or provide health insurance and allow poor working conditions.

Is the Walt Disney Co. (NYSE:DIS) doing the right thing by prominently featuring Mel Gibson in commercials ahead of the release of Apocalypto, a movie the fallen-from-grace star directed?

Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) announced another round of customer voting for T.M.X. Elmo, Microsoft Corp.'s (NASDAQ:MSFT) Zune, George Foreman Grill, and Roboreptile.