Big Mac bounds back...

Creative bit of writing skills on the news that McDonald's stock has gone to all-time highs above $55 after they announced their largest-ever dividend increase Sept. 13 and their global sales market is also continuing to grow.

CHICAGO (AP) — It wasn't so long ago that the McDonald's fast-food empire looked as stale as a burger left under a heat lamp too long.

Sales were decreasing, new products weren't catching on and McDonald's Corp. was vilified by consumer activists, nutritionists and others as Americans got fatter and fatter. Even its seemingly bulletproof stock staggered to barely $12 a share in 2003.

Now, thanks to a combination of improved menus, better marketing and deft management, business is cooking like never before.