McDonald’s Shares Dip 0.67% with $770M Trade Volume Ranking 139th as Earnings and Consumer Shifts Muddle Outlook

On September 25, 2025, McDonald's (MCD) closed with a 0.67% decline, trading at a volume of $0.77 billion, ranking 139th in market activity. The drop followed mixed signals from earnings reports and shifting consumer spending patterns, though no direct catalysts were identified in recent disclosures.

Analysts noted limited near-term catalysts for the stock, with focus turning to the company's ability to maintain pricing power amid softening demand in key markets. Recent supply chain adjustments and menu innovation timelines remain under scrutiny, though no new developments were flagged in public filings or press releases.

Strategic clarity around the back-test framework remains pending. Key parameters require finalization: market scope (S&P 500 vs. broader universe), weighting methodology (equal vs. volume/market-cap), and execution timing (close-to-close vs. open-to-close). These decisions will determine the accuracy of performance simulations between January 1, 2022, and the present date.

To run a precise back-test I need to clear up a couple of details about the strategy and the universe we should use: 1. Market universe • Do you want to scan all U.S. listed stocks (NYSE + NASDAQ + AMEX), or a specific subset such as the S&P 500 constituents? • Should we restrict to common shares only (exclude ETFs, preferreds, etc.)? 2. Weighting and execution convention • Should each of the 500 selected stocks be equally weighted, or weighted by something else (e.g. volume‐proportional or market-cap-proportional)? • Do we buy at the close and sell at the next-day close, or use next-day open prices? (The latter is more practical for real execution.) Once we settle these points I can build the daily trading signals and run the back-test from 2022-01-01 to today.