Markets Open Lower

The US stock market has continued its decline, with Dow Jones currently down 0.70% to 10,664.46, S&P 500 down 0.79% to 1,125.28 and Nasdaq down 0.74% to 2,317.25.

Fast food giant McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE: MCD) today increased its dividend payout by 11% to 61 cents. The company, which has paid out dividends every year since it started paying them in 1976, is expected to pay out roughly $650 million in dividends this quarter. McDonald’s CEO Jim Skinner today said that the company would spend $5 billion returning money to shareholders through dividends and buybacks. The company shares are down 0.31% to $74.90 in the pre-market trading.

Michael Dell chief executive officer of Dell Inc (NASDAQ: DELL) late yesterday announced that his company was well in line to bring in revenues totaling to $60 billion for the year. Michael Dell announced that his company was likely to repeat 20% growth shown in previous quarters. Analysts expect the company to post revenues of $15.8 billion for the quarter and Wall Street estimates Dell to post revenues of $62.4 billion for the year, considerably higher than what Dell announced. Dell shares are down 0.97% to $12.26 in the pre-market trading session.

A US Labor Department report today said continuing weak labor market reversed the trend of two straight weeks of unemployment decline. The number of new US claims for unemployment benefits increased by 12,000 to a seasonally adjusted 465,000 against analyst forecast of 450,000.