McDonald's (MCD)
 Good old Mickey D’s disseminated its October same-store-sales.

One word: Wow.

The fast-food stalwart reported an 8.2% comp-store improvement for the month. Breaking down the action: In Europe, same-store-sales were up 9.8%; in the US, comps were up a healthy 5.3%. Seriously, these are some sweet numbers: In the same period last year, the company generated a healthy 6.9% global comp improvement. In other words, this wasn’t some sort of lay-up comparison.

Long story short, I think the company will continue to draw eyeballs and investor dollars. Translation: I think the stock moves higher on the news.

The downside, however, is that I continue to believe that its comps may cut both ways. Numbers like these could make comparisons in the future much tougher.

Yahoo (YHOO)
 Last Thursday, news reports had Jerry Yang indicating a marriage with Microsoft (MSFT) would be a good idea.

Then on Friday, reports circulated that Mister Softee’s CEO, Steve Ballmer, was taking a pass.

All of this back and forth has left many speculating about what will happen to the one-time high-flyer’s shares.

To be clear, I don’t have a crystal ball. But I do think that Jerry Yang is probably going to end up hitting the bricks before too long. To talk about a combination when the stock is trading at such a lowly level makes him look very weak, to my mind. He really should have kept his eye on the ball when the stock was in the $20s - and sewn up a deal then.

Even beyond Yang, I just have this weird sense that Microsoft isn’t entirely out of the picture. If the stock continues to languish in the low double-digits, Ballmer may say what the heck and buy them out. I’m also a believer in Icahn, and I think he’s working the phones and trying to make things happen behind the scenes.

I think the stock will trade higher a year from now, and that the shares are nearing a bottom - Yang or no Yang.

Have a great day!