The FINANCIAL -- McDonald’s Corp., the world’s largest restaurant company, said global sales rose 2.6 percent in January, although its sales in the U.S. were weak.

Sales at U.S. stores open at least 13 months fell 0.7 percent and climbed 4.3 percent in Europe, the Oak Brook, Illinois-based company said today in a statement. Sales in Asia, the Middle East and Africa also rose 4.3 percent, Bloomberg reports.

McDonald’s introduced a $1 breakfast menu last month in the U.S. and added a wrap version of its Big Mac sandwich to revive domestic sales hurt by a slowdown in consumer spending. In Europe, longer opening hours in the U.K. and France drove sales, while demand for breakfast and core menu staples such as french fries added to sales in Australia and Japan, according to the same source.

McDonald's has generally fared well in the recession as customers turned to it for cheap meals, but it has started to feel the pinch more acutely in recent months, AP reports. It has still outperformed most of its competitors, who've increasingly been pushing value menus and discounts of their own.

McDonald's said in the U.S its breakfast Dollar Menu and portable Mac Snack Wrap were popular offerings and its free Wi-Fi was also a draw, according to the same source.

Market Watch reports that the company also said it expects to record charges of $40 million to $50 million, mostly in the first half of the year, related to the closure of about 430 restaurants by affiliate McDonald's Japan.

McDonald's shares traded at $63.30 in premarket trading, up from Monday's close of $62.92 on the New York Stock Exchange, Reuters wrote.

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