BUSINESS NEWS 22ND, 2016
U.S. stocks finished mixed Friday as earnings misses last night from Microsoft and Google parent Alphabet doused optimism on Wall Street. The Dow got a boost from a strong earnings report before the opening bell from fast-food play McDonald's while the Nasdaq was dragged down by underwhelming profit results from the two high-profile tech names. Prior to the recent market hiccup, U.S. stocks had been in major rally mode, with the Dow and S&P 500 climbing within a percentage point of record highs notched last May. In addition to the tech earnings weakness, U.S. stocks have been hurt by a rise in the value of the U.S. dollar the past two trading sessions, as a higher dollar hurts sales and profits of U.S. companies that do a lot of business abroad.
BREAKFAST ALL DAY, NOW AT MCDONALD’S
Your favorite healthy fast food restaurant is booming. McDonald’s has implemented a new policy of breakfast all day, an effort to boost their profits. Did it work, you ask? Before we get into the numbers, let it be noted that the dollar was slightly stronger in this quarter, leading overall sales to skid to a “measly” $5.9 billion. However, profits experienced a massive McBoost, rocketing 35% to $1.1 billion. Again, the strong dollar hurt the fast food chain in terms of international sales. McDonald’s also reported that same store sales, or revenue from franchises that have been open for a year, climbed 5.4%, again showing the effectiveness of this new breakfast program.
JULIAN CASTRO: THE ONE TRUE HOPE
Donald Trump’s campaign against Latinos mobilized the community in a way never before seen in previous election cycles. Artists such as Pitbull began to speak out against the New York businessman. However, the most poignant argument against Trump came from potential vice president Julian Castro. Former mayor of San Antonio and now Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) in the Obama administration, Castro supports Clinton and is believed to be on her shortlist for a running mate should she get the nomination. However, Castro beats around the bush on this subject, repeatedly claiming that he fully expects to return to Texas in November.
GOOGLE MOST INFLUENTIAL BRAND IN INDIA
It is the foreign brands like Google and Facebook that rank on top in terms of their influence, while domestic ones are placed lower, as per the new list of ten most influential brands in the country. According to the study by global research firm Ipsos, Google ranks on the top and is followed by Facebook, Gmail, Microsoft and Samsung in the top five -- all of which are foreign brands. While another foreign brand WhatsApp is sixth on the India's top 10 most influential brands, Flipkart is the top ranked Indian brand at seventh place.