McDonald's to Roll Out More Limited-Time Offers: Hot Trends

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Popular searches on the Internet include McDonald's(MCD) after the fast food chain has decided to increase its offering of menu items available only for a limited time.

According to Wendy Cook, vice president of U.S. marketing at McDonald's, company research found that variety is a high priority for consumers. McDonald's, which currently offers the limited-time-only Cherry Berry Chiller beverage, will be rolling out another temporary item, a seasonal blueberry banana nut oatmeal, by mid-month. Both items will only be available for the summer until August.

Last year, McDonald's offered a total of eight limited-time offers in various categories -- from its Asian Chicken Salad to a Frozen Strawberry Lemonade and an Angus Chipotle BBQ Burger. The company has not revealed what other temporary menu items it has planned for the future, but it does plan to consider regional items off menus from its locations around the world.

Microsoft(MSFT) is trending as the company is reportedly planning to subsidize a Xbox 360 video game console and Kinect sensor in exchange for a two-year Xbox Live Gold monthly subscription.

According to reports, Microsoft is planning to offer the bundle for $99 with the two-year subscription, which is priced at $15 a month. The $15 monthly subscription is expected to include all online game play currently available with an Xbox Live Gold subscription.

Microsoft has not commented on or confirmed the rumors. According to a report from The Verge, the subsidized bundle could be available as early as next week.

BNP Paribas is another popular search. The French bank reported a first quarter profit climb of 9.6%.

Net income rose to €2.87 billion ($3.77 billion) from €2.62 billion a year ago, beating analysts' expectations.

BNP is France's largest bank and one of the world's biggest banks by assets.

The chatter on Main Street (a.k.a. Google, Yahoo! and other search sites) is always of interest to investors on Wall Street. Thus, each day, TheStreet compiles the stories that are trending on the Web, and highlights the news that could make stocks move.

-- Written by Brittany Umar.