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McDonald's cuts prices as US consumers feel the pinch: WSJ
STORY: McDonald's is cutting prices in the U.S. as consumers rein in spending. That was according to the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday. The news follows weeks of discussions with restaurant operators concerned about the change. It reportedly sees the company offer financial support to franchisees if they agree to drop prices. The move is meant to win back diners worn down by economic woes. McDonald's will now discount eight popular combo meals by 15%. The Journal says it will also offer $5 breakfasts and $8 Big Mac and McNugget meal deals later this year. They will be marketed as Extra Value Meals. The company declined to offer a comment on the report. McDonald's has already benefited from its existing affordable meal bundles. Earlier this month, they helped it beat Wall Street estimates for second quarter sales. Rivals including Domino's Pizza and Taco Bell owner Yum Brands have also been doubling down on value meals. The fast food industry has been battling to counter a slowdown in demand, mainly among lower-income families. Related Videos Nvidia earnings: What one analyst is watching for in the guidance How Louis Vuitton's new $160 lipstick is a 'strategic play' Why TJX could be the 'surprise' retail winner this earnings season Jackson Hole: What to know about the economic symposium Sign in to access your portfolio
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5 Vanguard ETFs to Buy With $2,000 and Hold Forever
Key Points Vanguard is a trustworthy name in the investment community and offers plenty of low-fee ETFs. Five simple Vanguard funds can give investors exposure to thousands of companies across various industries and countries. These funds combine growth and dividend income while touching on everything from AI to real estate. 10 stocks we like better than Vanguard S&P 500 ETF › Investing with a long-term strategy has proven to be a great way to build serious wealth over time without taking on a bunch of risk or headaches along the way. Some key elements of this strategy involve simplifying things when you can and diversifying your investments across different markets and industries. Arguably, the best way to accomplish this is with exchange-traded funds (ETFs), groups of individual stocks that trade under a single ticker symbol. Vanguard is a leading provider of investment funds and is a trusted name that has been around for decades. Here are five Vanguard ETFs that, when combined, represent a fantastic and diverse starting point for a long-term portfolio. Investors can own shares of all five for under $2,000, and each has a minimum investment of just $1, making such a position easy for investors to add to over time, no matter the budget. 1. Vanguard S&P 500 ETF The S&P 500 is the best-known U.S. stock market index, tracking 500 prominent U.S. companies. You could think of it representing America's economy, which includes the leading technology companies, a group known as the "Magnificent Seven" stocks. But investors who want to get stock performance equal to the S&P 500 have a small issue to contend with. You can't invest in the S&P 500 directly. The workaround is to invest indirectly through the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (NYSEMKT: VOO). Stock prices fluctuate, and the S&P 500 is no different. The index fluctuates from year to year, occasionally experiencing severe downturns. Yet it has always recovered, and it has produced 8% annualized returns on average over nearly a century. No investment is entirely risk-free, but the S&P 500's track record makes it arguably the safest investment fund you'll find for as long as America is a global economic powerhouse. 2. Vanguard Dividend Appreciation ETF Dividends are often an indicator of an excellent business, especially if it can increase that dividend year after year. It's usually a sign of a company that generates more profits than it needs, so it shares them with investors. The Vanguard Dividend Appreciation ETF (NYSEMKT: VIG) focuses on large U.S. companies that cut you increasing dividend checks over time. As a result, the ETF's dividend has risen over the years, too. Its dividend yield won't wow you at just over 1.6%, but a growing dividend adds up over the years if you're patient. Investors may also like the ETF's light exposure to the Magnificent Seven: Microsoft and Apple are the only two Magnificent Seven stocks in the fund, making it a great complement to some of the other ETFs on this list. 3. Vanguard Information Technology ETF If you want to lean into technology and innovation, the Vanguard Information Technology ETF (NYSEMKT: VGT) can help. It's a pure play on the technology sector, spread across all sorts of sub-markets, including various types of software, semiconductors, and infrastructure. While the ETF holds over 317 stocks, its top three holdings, Nvidia, Microsoft, and Apple, make up over 40% of the ETF, so you'll probably want to feel good about those companies if you're going to invest in this fund. Fortunately, the ETF is quite diverse after those three. The fourth-highest-weighted stock, Broadcom, is only 4.69% of the fund, and the weightings drop quickly from there. Investors will like the ETF's low expense ratio of just 0.09%, which is far below that of most technology ETFs. For instance, the popular Invesco QQQ ETF charges 0.20%, more than twice as much, despite having underperformed the Vanguard Information Technology ETF over the past decade. 4. Vanguard Real Estate ETF Diversification is about more than choosing different corporations. Real estate is a classic investment, but few people have the funds, knowledge, or desire to buy properties. The Vanguard Real Estate ETF (NYSEMKT: VNQ) is an excellent addition to any long-term portfolio for the real estate flavors it brings to the table. The ETF holds real estate investment trusts (REITs), companies that acquire and lease real estate and distribute their taxable income to shareholders as dividends. The Vanguard Real Estate ETF holds over 150 REITs across various property types, including residential and commercial buildings, data centers, industrial facilities, and hospitals. Real estate is typically an income investment, and the ETF reflects that. It currently has an adjusted effective yield of 2.8%. Investors can supercharge how their money compounds by reinvesting the dividends. 5. Vanguard Total International Stock ETF Lastly, it's hard to call a portfolio diverse if almost everything in it is from the United States. Sure, many U.S. companies do business globally, but there are many elite businesses based in other countries. The Vanguard Total International Stock ETF (NASDAQ: VXUS) gives investors instant ownership of over 8,600 non-U.S. companies from various developed and emerging countries worldwide. The ETF's top holdings include well-known foreign giants like Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing and Nestlé. It takes all the work out of having to sift through foreign corporate documents, which are often in other languages, making the ETF's teeny-tiny 0.05% expense ratio a bargain. By adding the Vanguard Total International ETF to your portfolio, you are genuinely investing in the global economy. Should you buy stock in Vanguard S&P 500 ETF right now? Before you buy stock in Vanguard S&P 500 ETF, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the for investors to buy now… and Vanguard S&P 500 ETF wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $654,781!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $1,076,588!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor's total average return is 1,055% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 183% for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join Stock Advisor. See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of August 18, 2025 Justin Pope has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Apple, Microsoft, Nvidia, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing, Vanguard Dividend Appreciation ETF, Vanguard Real Estate ETF, Vanguard S&P 500 ETF, and Vanguard Total International Stock ETF. The Motley Fool recommends Broadcom and Nestlé and recommends the following options: long January 2026 $395 calls on Microsoft and short January 2026 $405 calls on Microsoft. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. 5 Vanguard ETFs to Buy With $2,000 and Hold Forever was originally published by The Motley Fool
Yahoo
18 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Trending tickers: Target, Walmart, James Hardie Industries, Hertz and WH Smith
Target Corporation (TGT) Shares in Target (TGT) fell more than 6% on Wednesday, after the US retailer announced that chief operating officer Michael Fiddelke will become the company's new CEO. Fiddelke is set to take over from Brian Cornell, who will become the executive chair of Target's board, both effective from 1 February 2026. Read more: Stocks lack direction as UK borrowing comes in lower than expected in July The announcement comes as the company seeks to turnaround performance, with results released on Wednesday showing net sales in the second quarter edged 0.9% lower to $25.2bn (£18.7bn). Net earnings for the quarter fell 21.5% to $935m, with diluted earnings per share down 20.2% to $2.05 compared to the same period last year. Target maintained its guidance for the year, expecting a low single digit decline in sales and adjusted earnings per share of $7 to $9. Walmart (WMT) Another retail stock in focus on Thursday was Walmart (WMT), with shares steady in pre-market trading ahead of the company reporting its second quarter earnings before the US market open. In Walmart's first quarter results, chief financial officer John David Rainey said that the company had decided to hold off on providing a specific range of guidance for operating income growth and earnings per share for the second quarter, given the "dynamic nature of the backdrop". Walmart did guide to net sales growth of 3.5% to 4.5% for the quarter, based on the $167.8bn it reported a year ago. Read more: Stocks that are trending today AJ Bell's (AJB.L) investment director Russ Mould and head of financial analysis Danni Hewson said that analysts expect a headline figure for net sales of $174bn. "That turns into a consensus analysts' forecasts for [net profit in] the second quarter of $5.8bn, and a headline earnings per share figure of $0.72, up from $0.67 a year ago," they said. "For the full year to January 2026, Walmart has thus far guided to a net sales increase on a constant currency basis of 3% to 4% and analysts' headline estimate for the top line is $699bn," they added. "Management expects full-year EPS to come in between $2.50 and $2.60, and the current analysts' consensus is $2.58." James Hardie Industries (JHX) Shares in James Hardie Industries (JHX) tumbled nearly 35% on Wednesday, after the global building materials company pointed to a weak US housing market and homeowners reluctant to spend on big projects. In first quarter results released on Tuesday, CEO Aaron Erter said: "Presently, demand in both repair & remodel and new construction in North America is challenging. Uncertainty is a common thread throughout conversations with customer and contractor partners. Stocks: Create your watchlist and portfolio "Homeowners are deferring large-ticket remodelling projects like re-siding, and affordability remains the key impediment to improvement in single-family new construction, where more recently, homebuilders are moderating their demand expectations and slowing starts to align their home inventory with a decelerating pace of traffic and sales." For the first quarter, James Hardie posted a 9% fall in net sales to $899.9m, with net income down 60% to $62.6m. Adjusted earnings per share came in at $0.29, which was 28% lower than the same quarter last year. While shares hovered just above the flatline in pre-market trading on Thursday, the stock is still down 39.5% year-to-date. Hertz (HTZ) Shares in Hertz (HTZ) jumped nearly 6% on Wednesday and were up 1.3% in pre-market trading on Thursday, after the rental car firm announced a tie-up with Amazon (AMZN). Hertz said on Wednesday that its car sales business is partnering with Amazon Autos to sell its used cars on the platform. Through the partnership, Hertz said that customers will be able to buy its pre-owned vehicles online via Amazon Autos, and then pick up them up at Hertz Car Sales locations. The company said that this will initially begin in Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles and Seattle, with plans to expand to 45 Hertz Car Sales locations across the US. WH Smith (SMWH.L) On the London market, shares in WH Smith (SMWH.L) plummeted 35% on Thursday morning, after the retailer cut its North America profit forecast following an accounting error. The travel retailer said that a financial review had identified an overstatement of around £30m ($40.4m) of expected headline trading profit in North America, which it said was "largely due to the accelerated recognition of supplier income" in this division. As a result, WH Smith said it now expects North America headline trading profit for the year to come in at approximately £25m, down from previous guidance of £55m. The company said it now expects full-year headline profit before tax and non-underlying items to be in the region of £110m. Read more: What inflation data means for Bank of England's interest rate changes WH Smith said its board had instructed Deloitte to undertake an independent and comprehensive review. Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at IG, said: "WHSmith's bid to turn around its flagging share price has been dealt a major blow by today's news. He said that the drop in shares "shows that investors are fretting that this could be the tip of the iceberg, especially since the firm has called in the auditors. The news means that the three-year recovery in earnings will take a big hit, but perhaps the reaction seems a little overdone, especially now it has shed itself of the underperforming UK High Street arm." Read more: Average UK house price rises to £269,000 in June Eurozone inflation remains stable at 2% in July How to find the weak link in your financesMelden Sie sich an, um Ihr Portfolio aufzurufen.
