Business
CEO Chris Kempczinski discusses inflation
McDonald’s is predicting that flat traffic and higher inflation will continue to weigh on the restaurant industry, CEO Chris Kempczinski said Wednesday.
“One of the things I’ve talked to our team about is we need to stop talking about that being a difficult environment, and just say that is the environment,” Kempczinski said on CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street.” “Because I think, as we look out forward, we’re not expecting things to change.”
For years, Kempczinski has been warning investors and analysts about the “challenging environment” faced by McDonald’s and the broader industry. The burger chain reported U.S. same-store sales growth of just 0.8% in its most recent quarter as traffic to its domestic restaurants fell.
Diners have been eating out less frequently, pushing back against higher menu prices as they face increased costs on everything from gas to groceries. From August 2025 to July 2026, industry operators surveyed by the National Restaurant Association reported a net decline in customer traffic in every month but one.
Chris Kempczinski, McDonald’s, speaks during a press conference in New York, November 17, 2016.
Shannon Stapleton | Reuters
To attract customers, McDonald’s and its rivals have leaned into discounts. But diners aren’t the only ones facing higher costs.
Restaurant operators — like McDonald’s and its franchisees — have seen beef prices soar. Kempczinski said that beef costs have nearly doubled over the last five years in the company’s biggest markets. Other expenses, like labor and construction, have also ticked higher, putting more pressure on margins.
“Across the board, we’re seeing that inflation is sticky,” Kempczinski said. “It’s sticky, not just in the U.S., but around the world.”
Faced with tougher operating conditions, McDonald’s is focusing on stealing diners from its rivals.
“The biggest thing that you need to do in an environment like this is you have to be able to earn share,” Kempczinski said. “You have to be able to actually grab growth from your competitors.”
While he said McDonald’s will likely have to consider price increases, he added the chain will have to be careful not to drive diners away. He reiterated that the company believes it erred by raising prices too quickly in the years after the Covid pandemic.
Kempczinski and other McDonald’s executives will share more details about the company’s plans to gain market share during its investor day on Wednesday.
DETROIT — As President Donald Trump meets with Chinese President Xi Jinping this week, U.S. politicians as well as the global automotive industry are warning that allowing Chinese automakers to enter the market could be a Pandora’s box.
Trump earlier this month said he might be “OK” letting Chinese automakers into the U.S. if they produced vehicles domestically, leading a consortium of auto trade groups representing every major facet of the American auto industry to urge him to rethink that position.
It was an uncharacteristically unified message from automakers operating in the U.S., franchised dealers and suppliers. More than two dozen Democratic lawmakers followed that push with their own letter, urging Trump to keep in place U.S. restrictions against Chinese automakers.
“It’s not at this point a partisan issue,” Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., told reporters Wednesday. “It’s about whether we want to make cars in America and whether we want a manufacturing base that can pivot when we need it. If we want that, we shouldn’t let them in our country.”
Trump is scheduled to host Xi and a delegation from China on Thursday and Friday that reportedly could include Wang Chuanfu, founder of BYD, China’s largest automaker, and Robin Zeng, founder of CATL, the world’s top battery maker for electric vehicles.
Michael Dunne, an expert on China’s automotive industry and a former General Motors executive, said even the potential that those two executives could attend underscores the importance of Xi’s trip for the U.S. auto industry.
GM CEO Mary Barra is also expected to be among the attendees at Trump’s state dinner for Xi, Reuters reported Wednesday, along with several other U.S. executives, including Tesla CEO Elon Musk.
As for America’s other largest automakers, Ford Motor declined to disclose whether CEO Jim Farley will be attending after the Department of Transportation criticized the company for its Chinese ties, including a licensing deal with CATL. Reuters reported Chrysler parent Stellantis said CEO Antonio Filosa is out of the country and not planning to attend.
Industry insiders and onlookers have expressed concerns similar to those raised by automakers and lawmakers as bipartisan bills to ban Chinese automakers from the U.S. move through Congress.
The pressure campaign comes as China-made vehicles have been rapidly expanding outside of their domestic market, especially to Europe and Central and South America. There’s fear among global automakers that Chinese rivals, like BYD and Geely, which are heavily subsidized by their governments, could flood global markets, undercutting domestic production and vehicle prices.
Dunne said he doesn’t believe those concerns are overblown. He said Chinese automakers would “quickly overwhelm America’s auto industry, just as it is now ravaging Europe.”
Global market share for Chinese brands jumped nearly 70% from 2020 to 2025, according to market research and consulting firm GlobalData. The automakers’ market share in the European Union was virtually nothing in 2020 but hit 12% in August, according to Germany-based Dataforce.
“China’s scores of automakers are currently engaged in a fight-to-the-death price war at home,” Dunne wrote in a post Monday. “There’s red ink everywhere. Access to the U.S., by far the most lucrative car market in the world, is like a giant tank of life-saving oxygen.”
‘Attacking very aggressively’
For much of this century, China was one of the largest and fastest-growing markets in the world. Non-China automakers flocked to the historically enclosed country with hopes of massive sales and profits.
But after years of success for automakers such as GM, the Chinese automotive sector has rapidly changed from an insular industry to the biggest exporter of vehicles globally.
China’s growth has been fueled by government funding for companies as well as a culture of innovation and speed the country has instilled in its workers, experts said. The decision to ramp up exports has come on the heels of a slowing Chinese market and plant underutilization.
A BYD Sealion 6 DM-i on display during the Busan International Mobility Show 2026 in South Korea, June 27, 2026.
Sopa Images | Lightrocket | Getty Images
Christian Meunier, Nissan Motor chairman of the Americas, described competing against Chinese automakers as a “hell of a challenge” in countries outside of the U.S.
“They have decent product but it’s all dumping,” he told CNBC during a recent interview. “We know we’re not competing with [automakers], we’re competing against the governments. … They’re attacking very aggressively.”
Meunier said the Japanese automaker has been trying to battle the Chinese as best as it can through growing scale globally to lower costs and become more efficient.
“We need to get ready for the day when they come to the U.S. because it will happen one day. Hopefully not tomorrow, but it will happen one day,” he said.
Dunne said China’s ambitions and ways of doing business are vastly different than the U.S.’ allies, which makes it different from allowing imports from Japan, South Korea and other countries.
“As Xi Jinping has alluded to many times, the goal for China is to ‘make other countries more dependent on China and China less dependent on other countries.’ That’s not a friendly posture,” Dunne said.
— CNBC’s Justin Papp contributed to this report.
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Business
Melania Trump rings New York Stock Exchange opening bell to launch new women’s initiative Imperia
It’s called Imperia, and its members include CEOs, founders, innovators, entrepreneurs and others.
A lot of the first lady’s attention has been on children, but, with Imperia, she is leaning on her business skills to encourage women to harness their economic power and help others understand women’s role in a global economy.
“For generations, women fought for a seat at the table,” she told a meeting of the group. “The next chapter is about owning, growing and making space for the women who come next.”
She said that means owning businesses, equity, real estate, capital and investment assets, along with “our ideas, our intellectual property and our economic future.”
“People still do not fully understand the full scale of women’s power in the global economy,” she continued. “Women are not just part of the marketplace, simple participants. We are its foundation, and we are its infrastructure.”
In a rare television interview earlier Wednesday on Fox News Channel’s “Fox & Friends” to promote Imperia, the first lady addressed several other subjects, including this week’s state visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping, her efforts to reunite children separated from their families by Russia’s war against Ukraine, her new docuseries and the extent of her public engagements.Some recent news reports have said the first lady is appearing in public less often than during President Donald Trump’s first term.
Melania Trump said the difference is that she is more focused on getting results.
“You don’t see me everywhere, but behind the scenes I’m working nonstop,” she said, citing as an example the preparations for her events in New York this week on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly and for Xi’s visit. “I’m working on so many projects … in the future. So stay tuned.”
She was deeply involved in the planning for Xi’s visit in her role as first lady. She said her husband decided to personally greet China’s leader after his plane lands because of their “great relationship.” President Trump typically greets leaders at the White House.
As of July, Melania Trump had helped reunite five groups of Ukrainian and Russian children with their families, work that underscores the more global approach she has taken during the Republican president’s second term. She said that she has a “direct channel” with leaders from the warring countries and that her team is working on another reunification.
“This is ongoing, and we want to reunite as many children as possible,” the first lady said. “And that’s my focus as well. What they’re going through, it’s heartbreaking. And it’s nothing better to see than a child reunite with the parents, right?”
The first lady also rang the opening bell at the NYSE in January before the release of her Amazon documentary, “Melania,” about her life in the weeks leading up to Donald Trump’s inauguration for a second term in office. A new two-part docuseries featuring her will be released in the fall. She said it will be different from the documentary and teased that it will include some surprises.
“It’s more conversation, one on one with me,” the first lady said. “So when I was traveling and doing all of the filming, the director was asking me questions, and there are some private questions that I will answer that people never heard before. So it’s kind of exciting.
Former MLB All-Star Albert Pujols discusses the league’s new AI-augmented camera system. Pujols also reacts to his induction into the Cardinals Hall of Fame and shares details on the Playing with Heart program.
Albert Pujols is embracing baseball’s technology-driven changes, arguing that a new way to challenge ball-and-strike calls could give players another chance when a game is on the line.
MLB legend Albert Pujols weighs in on baseball’s new AI-powered challenge system and how technology is changing the game. (Mary DeCicco/WBCI/MLB / Getty Images)
The former MLB All-Star joined FOX Business’ Stuart Varney on “Varney & Co.” to discuss the Automated Ball-Strike (ABS) Challenge System, which allows batters, pitchers and catchers to contest ball-and-strike calls, and how changes to the game could benefit fans.
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The system gives batters, pitchers and catchers a way to challenge an umpire’s ball-or-strike call rather than leaving a potentially pivotal decision unchanged. For Pujols, who finished his career with 703 home runs, its appeal is especially clear in the final moments of a close game.
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“I love it,” Pujols said, “I didn’t play… My career with it but now covering in baseball and watching some of the guys taking a chance and opportunity what I love the most is that there might be a chance in the bottom of the ninth and they might call strike on you… And you might get a chance to come back… And probably win so it’s a second opportunity.”
French Foreign Ministry spokesperson Pascal Confavreux tells Fox News Digital why France is bringing leading AI executives to the UN to address security risks and the protection of young people.
Pujols acknowledged that challenges can put umpires in a difficult position, but he connected the latest change to baseball’s broader push to improve the pace of play. He pointed to the pitch clock as another adjustment that initially drew questions but has helped shorten games.
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“We put the umpires in a tough situation… But this is where we are in baseball right now,” he said. Later, discussing the changes and their effect on spectators, he added, “This is great for baseball.”
FOX Business’ Liz Claman hosted a fireside chat with AMD CEO Lisa Su and First Lady Melania Trump during a trip to the New York Stock Exchange celebrating women in business.
As U.S. leadership in artificial intelligence (AI) and the semiconductor industry remains a central economic and national security issue, Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) Chair and CEO Lisa Su said she will attend President Donald Trump’s state dinner for Chinese President Xi Jinping.
“I’m honored to say that I will be at the dinner tomorrow night,” Su told FOX Business’ Liz Claman in a fireside chat on Wednesday during a trip to the New York Stock Exchange celebrating women in business. “It is an honor… to be there.”
“This summit between the presidents, President Xi and President Trump, is very impactful, very important. I think technology is one of those areas where we rely on the global ecosystem to come together. So, yes, I think we’re anxiously looking at what will come out of it. And the truth is, we want to ensure that there’s good stability across the global ecosystem as it relates to technology.”
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Su will join other prominent American tech leaders, including Tesla CEO Elon Musk, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and Apple’s Tim Cook. The tech leaders’ anticipated attendance at the Trump-Xi state dinner comes at a time of geopolitical tensions, including over the development of AI and access to both models and the chips that power them.
AMD CEO Lisa Su announced Wednesday that she will be attending the state dinner with U.S. President Donald Trump and President of the People’s Republic of China Xi Jinping. (Getty Images)
The U.S. and China are competing to develop increasingly capable AI tools, a source of tension between the two countries. China’s access to specialized chips that power advanced AI models has been restricted through U.S. export controls on advanced semiconductors, including those made by Nvidia.
President Trump recently described AI as potentially the greatest industrial revolution in history. As demand for compute capability grows, leaders in the industry face a dual responsibility to expand U.S. technology while establishing technical safeguards.
FOX Business’ Edward Lawrence reports on Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s arrival to meet with China’s vice premiers. This comes ahead of President Trump’s meeting with Chinese President Xi JinPing.
“I am an AI optimist,” Su said. “You know, I will say that for sure… And I’m not, you know, just saying this because I’m a technology person. In terms of power, of technology and what I’ve seen over my career over the last 30 plus years, it is the most powerful technology I’ve ever seen.”
“The world is going to be very ambitious with AI. The world should be very ambitious with AI. And I think we as technology companies and we as the American U.S. ecosystem must continue to be very aggressive while also ensuring that everybody comes together and realizes that we must build trust in AI,” she continued. “It is absolutely non-negotiable that we must build trust in AI.”
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A red carpet rollout is planned for when Xi and his wife, Peng Liyuan, arrive at Joint Base Andrews on Wednesday evening, replete with an arrival ceremony for the man who has found himself at odds with Trump on issues ranging from artificial intelligence and intellectual property theft, trade practices, rare-earth minerals to the communist country’s support for Iran during America’s military conflict there. Xi hasn’t visited the nation’s capital in more than a decade.
President Donald Trump discusses artificial intelligence during remarks delivered before the United Nations General Assembly.
AI will be a major topic of discussion during the two-day summit, which officially begins Thursday morning and ends Friday evening, according to a senior administration official.
FOX Business’ Eric Revell and Fox News’ Peter D’Abrosca and Ashley J. DiMella contributed to this report.
Ulla Paajanen
Good afternoon to our guests here in the room and to everyone joining us online. My name is Ulla Paajanen, and I will be responsible for WISA’s Investor Relations. A warm welcome to WISA’s first Capital Markets Day hosted here at UPM Biofore House.
I would also like to remind you of our clear disclaimer since we might be making forward-looking statements. And before we begin, let me briefly get — go through some important safety information regarding the premises. Safety is a top priority for WISA. Therefore I would like to remind everyone here that in the event of evacuation, please leave all personal belongings behind and proceed outside as quickly and safely as possible. Our designated meeting point is located directly in front of the Biofore House.
Your today’s presenters are Chair of the Board, Tapio Korpeinen, whose distinguished career spans leadership position as a CFO and business area Executive at UPM. Joining him is President and CEO, Tuija Suur-Hamari, a highly respected leader with extensive experience across the forest industry, particularly in materials-based and industrial businesses. Completing the team is Chief Financial Officer, Lasse von Hertzen, who brings a unique combination of capital markets expertise from investment banking and deep financial leadership experience from UPM.
Let us now turn to today’s agenda. As you can see, Tapio will begin by sharing why UPM believes WISA is well positioned to create greater value as
WA is moving to regulate student housing projects through the planning system.
The dollar briefly hit a seven-week high against a basket of currencies before paring gains as oil prices see-sawed.
Crude prices turned lower after Japan’s Kyodo News said Iran offered to reopen the Strait of Hormuz within seven days if the U.S. takes steps toward easing military pressure.
An earlier rise in oil prices, which reflected continuing shipping risks, had lifted the dollar due to the U.S.’s position as a net oil exporter and the currency’s safe-haven role.
Mortgage rates hit highest level since 2024, demand falls
Marion Campbell, Sonic Drive-In’s vice president of integrated marketing and communications, on the fast-food chain’s beverage and fall flavor strategies.
McDonald’s on Wednesday announced new details as part of its long-term growth strategy, which will include a focus on upgrading restaurants and staff training, at an investor day at the corporate headquarters in Chicago.
The fast-food giant announced its NEXT growth and productivity strategy in June and outlined plans to implement changes throughout its system.
McDonald’s said that to speed up the modernization of restaurants, deployment of technology and other operational improvements, it plans to provide about $8.5 billion in NEXT partnering support for franchisees through 2036, with roughly $5 billion provided through 2030.
The NEXT support for franchisees will include a combination of capital support and rent relief.
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McDonald’s detailed its plans to modernize restaurants and support franchisees. (Jeffrey Greenberg/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
The support comes with a target of about 250 basis points of gross restaurant-level efficiency improvements amounting to about $100,000 in annual cash flow benefits for the average restaurant, with the company saying the majority of that would benefit the restaurant’s bottom line over time.
McDonald’s announcement noted that the restaurant component of the plan aims to boost growth and productivity through simplified operations, elevated execution, modernized restaurant design and deploying generative AI-enabled ArchIQ at scale.
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McDonald’s also announced a new customer service initiative to drive repeat visits and improve consistency. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
The company also announced a multiyear training program called “Make it Golden” that will begin on Founder’s Day, Oct. 5, which aims to improve customer service to create more consistency for patrons and increase repeat visits.
“McDonald’s has the unmatched scale, customer insights, brand loyalty, and operational capabilities to not only adapt to the next wave of change in our industry, but to turn it into an advantage,” said McDonald’s CEO Chris Kempczinski. “That’s what McDonald’s > NEXT is about: to be the first choice for more customers, more often – while making our restaurants stronger and easier to run.”
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| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MCD | MCDONALD’S CORP. | 236.78 | -13.59 | -5.43% |
“We are confident that executing across the key components of NEXT will unlock stronger restaurant economics, generate attractive returns for the Company, our franchisees and shareholders, and increase capacity to keep investing in growth,” Kempczinski added.
McDonald’s announcement also included new market share targets, calling for 1.5 percentage points of growth in both chicken and beverages by 2030, while also maintaining the company’s leadership in beef market share.
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Sales growth from unit expansion is also targeted to contribute nearly 2.5% to system-wide sales growth in 2027, moderating to about 2% by 2030.
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