Dow Jones Industrial Average stocks fell in Europe. Microsoft Corp. and Amazon.com Inc. declined after both forecast sales lower than analysts' estimates. Google Inc., the world's most-used Internet search engine, jumped in Germany after the company said third-quarter profit and sales more than doubled. Dow Average futures expiring in December dropped 3 to 9860 as of 11:45 a.m. in London. Nineteen of the shares in the benchmark that were trading in Europe fell and eight rose. Standard & Poor's 500 Index futures shed 0.7 to 1107 and Nasdaq-100 Index futures rose 0.5 to 1476.
Microsoft, the world's largest software maker, lost 43 cents to $28.13 in Germany. The company late yesterday said sales this quarter will be $10.3 billion to $10.5 billion. That's lower than analysts' predictions of $10.6 billion, according to Thomson Financial. ``It's still a very difficult environment,'' said Louise Keeling, who manages about $3.5 billion in U.S. stocks at Insight Investment Management in London. ``Expectations aren't low enough.'' Amazon.com, the world's biggest Internet retailer, dropped $3.50, or 8.9 percent, to $35.97. The company said 2005 sales will be $7.4 billion to $8.15 billion. Analysts expected $8.27 billion, according to the average estimate from Thomson. Amazon.com reported third-quarter earnings, excluding some costs, of 17 cents a share, or a penny below the average estimate of 18 cents. Google added $12.18, or 8.2 percent, to $161.56. Its U.S. shares are 76 percent above the $85 price at which they were first sold to the public on Aug. 19. Google said it sold more advertising last quarter and drew more traffic to its Web sites.
Earnings Reports
Schlumberger Ltd., the world's second-largest oilfield- services company, today reported third-quarter profit of 52 cents a share, compared with a year-earlier loss of 9 cents. Shares of the company, which is based in New York and Paris, shed 49 cents to $67.20 in France. Xcel Energy Inc., owner of utilities in Minneapolis and Denver, said third-quarter net income fell to 12 cents a share from 69 cents a year earlier. The shares didn't trade in Europe. Earnings at S&P 500 companies increased an average 14.5 percent in the third quarter and are expected to rise 15.7 percent in the fourth, according to Thomson Financial. Profit growth may slow to 10.8 percent in 2005.
Shares of U.S. companies involved in making equipment for communications networks may decline today. Sweden's Ericsson AB, the world's biggest maker of mobile-phone networks, said growth in the wireless-network business is slowing. Lucent Technologies Inc., the largest U.S. maker of telephone equipment, shed 4 cents to $3.47 in Germany. Cisco Systems Inc., the biggest maker of computer-networking equipment, slipped 18 cents to $18.45. ``It's very likely that we'll see a slowdown'' in the telecom- equipment industry, said Lucy MacDonald, head of global equities at Dresdner RCM Global Investors in London, which manages $49 billion.
Weekly Performance
PeopleSoft Inc., which has spent the past 16 months fighting a hostile takeover by Oracle Corp., shed 22 cents to $20.21 in Germany. Oracle's bid, which PeopleSoft has said cost $1 billion in sales through June, will continue to affect business this quarter, Chief Financial Officer Kevin Parker said. The S&P 500 climbed 0.3 percent to 1106.49 yesterday, lifted by a rally in Internet and technology shares, after EBay Inc. and Symantec Corp. reported earnings that beat analyst estimates. The Nasdaq Composite Index advanced 1.1 percent to 1953.62.
The S&P 500 has shed 0.2 percent so far this week, while the Nasdaq is headed for its first weekly gain in three. The Dow average fell for a third day, losing 0.2 percent to 9865.76, the lowest since Aug. 13. It is set to fall for the third successive week. ///www.bloomberg.com