McDonald's April sales increase


Early this morning, McDonald's (NYSE: MCD) announced that its April comparable sales increased 6.9%. The company's sales were pushed higher as sales strength in the United States helped to offset the impact of the stronger dollar. When the dollar is strong, it lessens the value of overseas sales -- the stronger dollar led to a 1% decline at MCD restaurants worldwide.

Breaking down the numbers, sales in the U.S. increased 6.1%, European sales increased 8.4% and sales in Asia/Middle East/Africa increased 6.5%. Excluding currency translations, MCD worldwide sales increased 8.9%. In the United States, MCD received its biggest boost from its new McCafe coffees (a personal favorite, although it is tough to top an ice cold diet coke) and its chicken Snack Wraps.

Ahead of the opening bell, MCD was roughly 3% higher, trading in the $55 region. Trading at this price could be significant for MCD, as the shares would have taken out resistance from their 10-, 20-, and 50-day moving averages. These trendlines have acted as resistance and a clear break of these moving averages could signal a short-term uptrend is in the cards.

On an intermediate-term basis, the $56 region is a bit more important. Looking at MCD's chart, this level has provided support in the past, so it could act as resistance. Let's see if MCD can parlay this morning's good news into a rally worthy of taking out overhead resistance.

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Symbol Lookup
IndexesChangePrice
DJIA-89.2312,801.23
NASDAQ-23.352,903.88
S&P 500-9.311,342.64

Last updated: February 12, 2012: 04:11 PM

Hot Stocks

General Electric

18.875-0.255(-1.33)

Alcoa

10.29-0.35(-3.29)

Apple Inc

493.42+0.25(+0.05)

Google Inc 'A'

605.91-5.55(-0.91)

Bank of America

8.07-0.11(-1.34)

Wal-Mart Stores

61.90-0.06(-0.10)

Exxon Mobil Corp

83.80-1.08(-1.27)

Ford

12.44-0.25(-1.97)

Citigroup

32.925-0.735(-2.18)

IBM

192.42-0.71(-0.37)

Yahoo

16.14+0.14(+0.88)

Starbucks

48.82-0.38(-0.77)

Microsoft

30.495-0.275(-0.89)

Home Depot

45.33+0.06(+0.13)

DailyFinance Headlines

Benzinga Headlines

TheFlyOnTheWall.com Headlines

BioHealth Investor Headlines

WalletPop Headlines

DailyFinance BlackBerry App

My Portfolios

Track your stocks here!

Find out why more people track their portfolios on AOL Money & Finance then anywhere else.

BloggingStocks Partners

More from AOL Money & Finance

BioHealth Investor Headlines

Page Loaded in 1329081089215 ms.