McDonald's earnings, minimum wage victory, EU comes after Frozen

Stocks (^GSPC) are struggling to break their 2-day losing streak as disappointing earnings from some big-name companies are weighing on Wall Street.

Yahoo Finance Senior Columnist Michael Santoli says we shouldn't be overly surprised at the financial statements this quarter.

"Expectations going in were pretty beaten down, so cosmetically a bigger majority of companies than usual are beating estimates," he notes. "But a lot of them had to go to these heroic lengths to make their numbers, weak top lines, currency really ravaged some of the income statements. Definitely some big misses in the industrial area--  that's one thing we have to keep an eye on."

On the plus side, investors are getting a upside surprise on the job front--  the Labor Department reports weekly unemployment claims fell 26,000 to 255,000, well below estimates.

Get the Latest Market Data and News with the Yahoo Finance App

McDonald's U.S. sales fall again

Now a look at some of the stocks the Yahoo Finance team will be following for you today.

McDonald's (MCD) The fast-food giant reports second quarter sales in the U.S. fell 2%, more than analysts had forecast. Overall sales declined 0.7%. New CEO Steve Easterbrook says while the numbers were disappointing, the company is making progress in its turnaround plan. In the period, McDonald's profit and revenue topped estimates.

Caterpillar (CAT) The farm and construction equipment giant's quarterly earnings matched estimates, but revenue missed. Caterpillar says weakness in mining and the oil industry as well as sales declines in China and Brazil hurt its results. And it cut its full year sales forecast.

American Express (AXP) The credit card company topped second quarter profit estimates, but revenue came in light. As we have often heard from companies this year, American Express points to the negative effects of the strong dollar as a contributor to its lower results. The company also says it's seeing a decline in use of co-branded cards at Costco (COST) -- that deal expires next year.

3M (MMM) The maker of Post-It notes and Scotch tape beat by 2 cents on the bottom line in the period, but revenue fell and came up short of forecasts. Like American Express, 3M attributes a lot of its revenue decline to the impact of the strong dollar.

Qualcomm (QCOM) The biggest maker of semiconductors for cellphones is slashing 15% of its workforce as part of a strategic review of operations. And Qualcomm says that review could lead to a break up of the company. Qualcomm is also reducing profit and revenue forecasts in the current quarter.

Under Armour (UA) The sports apparel maker and Yahoo Finance's company of the year in 2014 beat on both the top and bottom lines in the period. Under Armour says clothing sales soared 23% and shoe sales jumped 40% thanks to excitement over products tied to NBA star Steph Curry.

Fast-food workers' victory

New York State is set to increase the minimum wage of fast food workers to $15/hour-- a more than 70% increase from the current minimum wage of $8.75 an hour. A special panel set up by Governor Andrew Cuomo suggests a gradual increase with the first pay hike coming before the end of the year.

The New York Stock Exchange and NASDAQ have agreed to back each other's closing auctions in the event of an outage. This is in response to the NYSE's more than 3-hour trading halt on July 8th.

The EU is filing antitrust charges against six U.S. film studios. The suit aims to end "geoblocking" which stops people outside of the U.K. from accessing films and other digital content.

More from Yahoo Finance
It’s no trick: McDonald’s may have all-day breakfast by Halloween
Elon Musk's 'complacency' problem
Ben & Jerry, meet Alibaba