Chicago ? McDonald’s Corp., struggling through a year of sluggish sales at home and abroad, said Tuesday it expected to report the first-ever quarterly loss in its 47-year history.

The announcement of the expected loss for the fourth quarter sent shares in the world’s largest restaurant company down $1.76, or 10 percent to $15.62 on the New York Stock Exchange. It’s the lowest closing price, adjusting for a stock split, since Jan. 26, 1995.

McDonald’s said it expected to incur after-tax charges of at least $390 million in the fourth quarter to pay for the restructuring moves it announced last month, including closing underperforming restaurants and pulling out of several countries. That will result in a loss of 5 cents to 6 cents per share.

Excluding the charges, the Oak Brook, Ill.-based chain expects earnings to be 25 cents to 26 cents per share ” well short of the 31-cent estimate of Wall Street analysts surveyed by Thomson First Call.

The announcement comes in the wake of a CEO change at McDonald’s and an apparently failed effort to jump-start sales by launching a price war with Burger King.

McDonald’s said sales at U.S. restaurants open at least a year were 1.3 percent lower in the first two months of the fourth quarter than in the period a year earlier, and down 1.5 percent for the first 11 months of the year.

Sales at established McDonald’s restaurants worldwide were down 1.6 percent for the quarter — including 1.6 percent in Europe, 5.2 percent for its Asia-Pacific-Middle East region and 2.5 percent in Canada — and down 2 percent for the first 11 months.

The company also said profit margins for the fourth quarter would be lower than a year ago.

The golden arches of a McDonald's drive-through sign are watched over by Cha Cha, the Rain Forest Cafe's green tree frog, at one of the fast foot giant's locations in downtown Chicago. McDonald's Corp. said on Tuesday that it expected to report its first quarterly loss in the fourth quarter.