McDonald’s Franchisees Doubts all-day breakfast menu will be Successful

McDonald’s are doing everything they could to bring back lost customers, their recent trick is the all-day breakfast menu. Franchisees doubt that it will be successful based on their internal annual survey of franchisees. Only 14% of U.S. franchisees agreed or strongly agreed that the company’s turnaround agenda was working. And only 35% said they felt confident about McDonald’s success over the long term, down from 46% the previous year, according to survey results provided to The Associated Press.

Only 48% said they had a clear understanding of the company’s vision of becoming a “modern progressive burger and breakfast company.” Franchisees that say they were “proud to be a McDonald’s Owner/Operator” also fell to 77% down from 84% in 2014.

McDonald’s Corp. is working to refresh its image and combat slumping sales, with the chain facing changing eating preferences and intense competition. Lisa McComb, a McDonald’s representative, said in a statement that the results of the franchisee survey were “hardly surprising” since it was conducted between September 18 and October 4, ahead of the October 6 launch of all-day breakfast and “before McDonald’s ended the year with momentum.”

She said the company was starting 2016 “in a better place than where we were 12 months ago.”

However, according to a Business Insider report McDonald's all-day breakfast menu is crushing its competitors and sales at McDonald's US locations open for at least one year rose for the first time in two years in the fourth quarter thanks to the company's new all-day breakfast offering.

Jack in the Box sales in the last part of the quarter were lower than we anticipated as several competitors began promoting aggressive value offers.

Howard Penney, an analyst at Hedgeye Risk Management, tweeted that "the market is saying that [Dunkin Donuts] & [Bojangles] are the other companies impacted by the mighty @McDonaldsCorp all-day breakfast."

US Dollar Down Near 3-1/2-month as Yellen eyed for direction

The dollar weakens near 3-1/2-month low against a basket of major currencies on Wednesday, as traders awaits the announcement of U.S. interest rate guidance from Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen. It was also affected by fears of a global economic slowdown amid the recent falls in oil prices and growing concerns about the health of European banks.

Experts said that because of those difficulties, the U.S. Federal Reserve will not raise interest rates in the near future. Traders are also looking to Fed Chair Janet Yellen's congressional testimony later in the day for clues on the outlook for policy.

Against a basket of currencies the dollar was flat at 96.056 .DXY, having touched 95.663 on Tuesday, its weakest since October.

The low represented a 4.8% decline from its 12-1/2-year peak touched in early December when the consensus was for the Fed to keep raising rates this year, stoking a global capital rush of funds to higher-yielding dollar assets.

The dollar's fall has been most notable against the yen, which had been depressed at low levels over a long period because of the Bank of Japan's aggressive monetary easing since 2013.

The dollar fell 0.7% to 114.37 yen , not far from its 15-month low of 114.205 yen hit on Tuesday.

A fall in Japan's benchmark Nikkei share average <.n225> to its lowest levels since October 2014 helped spur demand for the safe-haven yen, analysts said.

Such weakness in Japanese equities could dampen Japanese investors' risk appetite and weigh on the dollar versus the yen in coming months, said Masashi Murata, currency strategist for Brown Brothers Harriman in Tokyo.

The euro were steadfast at $1.1295, they've hit a 3-1/2 month high of $1.13385 on Tuesday.

Asia stocks Trades Lower Amid U.S. jobs data, US dollar is down

- Nikkei extends losses for fifth day, down 5.9% for the week

Asian markets were on the downside on Friday, closing mixed despite a positive finish on Wall Street overnight, as a newly weaker dollar brought fresh concerns ahead of the closely watched U.S. jobs report. The U.S. dollar basket has lost 3.2% since the close on Friday and 2.3% in just two days, with Wednesday being the worst single day in DXY in seven years.

The dollar index, where the dollar is weighted against a basket of currencies, was at 96.58.

Shanghai stocks, was slightly up by 0.2% while Australian shares dipped by 0.1%. Japan's Nikkei under performed, dropping 1.4% and headed for its fourth straight day of losses.

The biggest concern for the Japanese market now is whether the dollar will weaken against the yen further. You don't know how U.S. stocks will perform after the jobs data release, so most investors are nervous.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng bounce by 0.8% while other gainers included Malaysian and Singapore shares.

The euro were down 0.2% to $1.1188, trimming some of the gains from Thursday's surge. The common currency was headed for a 3.3% gain on the week, its biggest in more than four years.

The markets will look to the U.S. jobs data for direction, with the employment report expected to show employers adding 190,000 jobs in January.