This morning we got a passel of earnings that I found quite interesting.

Let's start with McDonalds ( ) since everyone loves the American Heart Attack symbol dotting the landscape (just kidding - kinda):

The Oak Brook, Ill.-based fast-food chain said net income fell to $1.09 billion, or 98 cents per share, from $1.19 billion, or $1.04 per share in last year's quarter.

Excluding a 10-cent-per-share gain a year ago from the sale of McDonald's minority interest in Pret A Manger, the company earned 94 cents per share in the 2008 quarter.

That's a bit of a miss.  Same-store sales, however, were bright, rising 4.8% globally and 3.5% in the US.  Revenue was down 7% but this was blamed on currency translation - I'll buy that explanation given the same-store sales numbers.

One thing I've commented on in the past is that McDonalds has over the last few years gone from "a cheap place to stuff your face right now" to a "moderately cheap place to stuff your face right now."  More to the point I distinctly recall 99 cent quarter-pounders (another 20 cents for the cheese) and 99 cent Cokes, leading to a $2 meal (even if it did set you up for $250,000 bypass surgery 20 years later!)  I confess to eating many of those $2 lunches.

Try that today; although the company has brought the "McDouble" back in most outlets at a buck its not a quarter pounder, and the drinks, well, consider that a fountain drink costs the company more for the cup than the soda in it.  Nice margin.

Point being that people expected significantly-stronger same-store sales from the company's coffee push and the "trade down" effect but it looks like while their coffee bar concept is working the "trade down" may be going all the way down to Americans' kitchens, instead of stopping at McDonalds!  Shares are under a bit of pressure this morning.

3M ( ) was indicated significantly higher this morning after reporting earnings that were down 15.8% - a beat of expectations, however, at $1.12/share .vs.