Market Recap: McDonald’s Moves to India, Fed Profits on AIG, Morgan Stanley Wins Valuation, Goldman Sachs Issues Plan B Report

Markets closed up today on Wall Street: Dow +0.52%, S&P +0.31%, Nasdaq +0.02%, Oil +0.49%, Gold +0.12%.

On the commodities front, Oil (NYSE:USO) is at $97.00 a barrel. Precious metals were mixed as Gold (NYSE:GLD) climbed to $1,734.20 per ounce, while Silver fell 0.35% to $33.51.

Here’s your Cheat Sheet to today’s top stock stories:

McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) will be opening up two vegetarian restaurants in India next year. The company has seen success localizing its international brand in China, Mexico, Israel, and France, and India seems to be next on the list. McDonald’s stands to profit on the country’s millions of vegetarians if its efforts are successful.

INVESTING INSIGHTS: Here’s How Weight-Loss Treatments are Boosting These Stocks.

The government and the Fed will make a $12.4 billion minimum profit from the $182.3 billion AIG (NYSE:AIG) bailout after the Treasury on Monday raised $18 billion after agreeing to sell 554 million shares at $32.50 each; AIG will buy about $5 billion. The government still owns a 21.5 per share in AIG and could an even greater return.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) won a victory after the consultant Perella Weinberg valued Morgan Stanley Smith Barney below $15 billion, reported the NYPost. Morgan Stanley’s had $9 billion valuation for brokerage vs. Citigroup’s $22 billion estimate. Morgan Stanley owns 51 percent of Smith Barney and Citigroup (NYSE:C) has balance. Morgan Stanley will exercise its right to purchase an additional 14 percent and was interested in paying a little as possible.

It’s no secret that a lot of banks have seen a lot of red recently. A new report from Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) suggests that ‘Plan B’ action is needed by most big banks in order to turn around returns. The report recommends action for Citigroup, Morgan Stanley, Bank of America (NYSE:BAC), Regions Financial (NYSE:RF), Zions Bancorp (NASDAQ:ZION), and KeyCorp (NYSE:KEY).

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