McDonald's is pitching an $8 Big Mac meal for a limited time as diesel prices hit a record $6.23 a gallon, setting up a collision between the chain's value push and its franchisees' all-time-high delivery costs. The promotion, which includes a burger, fries and a drink, aired as a McDonald's ad on the September 14 episode of the Marketplace Morning Report, the same broadcast that reported diesel crossing $6 a gallon for the first time ever, gasoline up 16 cents in a week to $4.31 per AAA, and that "pretty much everything we buy at the store comes on a diesel truck." McDonald's Q2 FY2026 earnings, filed August 4, 2026, showed global comparable sales growing just 1.3%, decelerating from 3.8% a year earlier, with negative U.S. comparable guest counts and U.S. revenue up 1% to $2.726 billion. CEO Chris Kempczinski called it a bad execution quarter, saying the pullback on digital offers and the removal of the buy-one-add-one program alongside the under-$3 menu launch was "a bad trade," and that roughly a third of the system did not follow the recommended value pricing. WTI crude printed $91.18 per barrel on September 4, 2026, SG&A expenses jumped 17% in Q2, and interest expense is guided up 4% to 6% for full-year 2026, while MCD trades near $257.27, down 14.43% over the past year and 14.17% year to date. Kempczinski said the U.S. should be "fully back to where we need to be in 2027."
McDonald’s CorporationMcDonald's pushes an $8 Big Mac meal as franchisees face record diesel delivery costs and its value pricing execution faltered, with Q2 global comps decelerating to 1.3% and negative U.S. guest counts.
Microsoft Corporation