Man, you know things are bad off when American’s pull back from the dollar menu.Today, McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) reported that for Q1, total U.S. revenue grew at the slowest pace in at least five years while the “rest of world” revenue grew strongly.
In fact, in “real” (inflation adjusted) terms, U.S. revenue actually showed its first annual decline in at least 5 years.
Even though there is a strong seasonal factor, with a most growth occurring during the second and third quarters (click on chart below for larger version), the Q1 deceleration is significant indicating a real pullback.
I think this is just another indication that consumers are seriously strapped since even though McDonald’s could have represented a sort of trade down during an economic slowdown, today’s results seem to indicate that American consumers are even cutting back on cheap fast food.
