Coke and Fries Lend a Little Help to the Dow

By Kim Khan

Investing.com – The continued to post triple-digit losses in afternoon trading Thursday as worries about global growth in general and the impact of the coronavirus in particular hit markets.

There were precious few stocks providing support for the blue-chip index.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:) helped due to its strong quarterly numbers that came after the bell Wednesday.

Two others were also in the green: Coca-Cola (NYSE:) and McDonald’s (NYSE:).

Coke jumped 3%, adding about 11.5 points to the Dow.

The soft drink giant announced earnings per share of $0.44 on revenue of $9.07 billion today. Analysts polled by Investing.com anticipated EPS of $0.44 on revenue of $8.85 billion.

The company said fourth-quarter revenue growth was led by its trademark brand and products such as its caffeinated beverage Plus Coffee and Zero Sugar soda.

Organic revenue, a keenly watched metric that excludes currency fluctuations and acquisitions, climbed 7% during the quarter.

McDonald’s rose 0.5%, adding about 7 points to the Dow.

The company managed to keep its momentum from yesterday’s going despite announcing it would be closing several hundred restaurants in China due to the coronavirus.

— Reuters contributed to this report.

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