East and africa were disappointed. U. S. Saw the kleins of 4 u. S. Saw declines of 4 asia, middle east and africa saw declines of 4. 4 this read is not something investors would like to hear. If you look at the share price it is down by 1. 8 . Betty and it might go lower given these numbers. U. S. Sales down 4 . Incredible. Scarlet mcdonalds japans february same store sales fell 29 . A sense of the challenges mcdonalds faces. Mcdonalds had some issues in japan, particularly they could not sell french fries because of the port strike on the west coast. That gives you a sense of the difficulties in the asiapacific region. Betty and the difficulties for Steve Easterbrook as he takes the helm. Thank you, scarlet. Lets look at top stories. Europes central bank taking the first steps towards boosting price growth in the region. The ecb buying german and italian bonds. Those insecurities and french notes are being bought. A part of quantitative easing. Officials saying the new greek plan to a
Here are the top stories we are watching ahead of the closing bell. Former Federal Reserve chairman ben bernanke speaking in mexico saying that he is more pessimistic about europe than the u. S. Or japan. He is cautiously optimistic about the north American Economy and believes inflation is too low in the u. S. Black rock in a venture seeking to raise one point 3 billion. Money managers are looking to expand the pool of money they oversee and diversify in the bond market. And bank of america will along will allow longtime investors to vote on its board to nominate its board. They will now be able to propose candidates if they have held shares for over three years. We are going into the close am trading. I want to go right to the breaking news desk. Scarlet, the nasdaq, are we going to see it . Are we going to see an extra high here . Scarlet the nasdaq is inching away from that level, but it is in our sites. The s p 500 had its best weekly advance and five. The dow, this is its seventh