Jim Skinner cautions on McDonald’s October sales

After posting another quarter of positive sales trends and profit growth, McDonald’s Corp. said October could be the month when its momentum finally falters in the face of the U.S. recession.

Chief executive Jim Skinner said domestic same-store sales for October would be flat or slightly negative, mainly because of tough comparisons from a year earlier, as well as a suboptimal operating environment and bad weather last week in the eastern United States. McDonald’s U.S. same-store sales rose 5.5 percent in October 2008.

“The only person who won in New England last Sunday was Tom Brady [of the New England Patriots],” Skinner told investors in a third-quarter conference call on Thursday. He said the weekend’s snowy weather contributed to a slow start for that region’s same-store sales in October, which so far this month have fallen between 10 percent and 11 percent.

Skinner said McDonald’s sales are recovering, thanks to the chain’s traffic-driving “Monopoly” promotion. Skinner and chief operating officer Ralph Alvarez also told investors that McDonald’s major product rollouts of this year, the Angus Third Pounder burgers and McCafé espresso beverages, have continued to outperform expectations.