Dow Jones Industrial Average (INDEX: ^DJI) continues to report stronger earnings than expected. The blue chips have climbed in each of the last three days, though futures were pointed downward before open, guiding a 0.6% loss.
With its earnings release after close yesterday, Microsoft (NYSE: MSFT) told investors it had an adjusted EPS gain of $0.67, though the company actually lost money over the quarter due to its $6.2 billion write-off of its 2007 aQuantive acquisition. The loss was expected as the software-maker had made it public earlier in this month, but the earnings beat drove shares 1.7% higher in pre-market trading.
GE (NYSE: GE) also delivered a slight earnings beat this morning of $0.38 per share versus expectations of $0.37, but revenue was off, and profits were down 18% from last year due to a slowdown in wind turbine sales. The industrial leader did not change its outlook despite weakness in Europe and the overall global economy, and still projects a double-digit increase in profits for the year. GE shares were down slightly before market open.
Tech heavyweight Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) also looks to make to gains today, up 3% in off-hours trading, after its earnings report yesterday afternoon. Paid clicks jumped 42% to guide a slight earnings beat, though cost-per-click continued to decline on a year-over-year basis. The company said that Motorola Mobility, which it acquired in May, lost money in the quarter.
Markets in Europe are down today in part as a response to poor U.S. data on unemployment and housing sales yesterday. The eurozone approved a bailout for Spanish banks as 10-year bond yields have again topped 7% on the Iberian peninsula. Vodafone (Nasdaq: VOD), Europe's largest mobile provider, also reported an 8% decline in revenue.
One final item of note -- DirecTV and Viacom resolved a standoff to restore 17 channels that the media company had removed from satellite TV provider's menu on July 10.
No economic reports are due out today.
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