Market News

LONDON (ShareCast) - The US markets continue to decline even though shares in book retailer Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN - news) have risen by nearly one-quarter following last night's good results announcement. Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT - news) has also posted good figures.

The Dow Jones is nearly 80 points lower but still hanging on to the 10,000 level. The S&P 500 is just over 8 points lower and Nasdaq (NASDAQ: news) has fallen by 1 point.

Strong sales of the Kindle electronic book reader helped Amazon to beat analysts' estimates in the the third quarter.

Microsoft was the biggest gainer in the Dow Jones (news) after it produced third quarter figures that were considerably better than expected. Sales fell on a year on year basis for the third quarter in a row, sliding 14% to $12.9bn. However, market expectations were for sales of around $12.3bn.

Earnings also came in ahead of market consensus. Net income fell to $3.57bn, equivalent to earnings per share (EPS) of 40 cents. The median forecast from a range of brokers was for EPS of 32 cents. In the July-September quarter last year the company had net earnings of $4.37bn.

Honeywell's 15% fall in profits to $608m in the third quarter was not as bad as feared.

Reduced demand from large oil companies meant that oil services group Schlumberger (NYSE: SLB - news) reported a fall in third quarter profit to $789m from $1.54bn. However, this was not as bad as feared.

A higher than expected third quarter loss led to a sharp fall in the share price of silicon wafers manufacturer MEMC Electronic Materials (NYSE: WFR - news) .

Shares in aeroplane maker Boeing (NYSE: BA - news) continue to fall after disappointing results earlier in the week.

Software (Frankfurt: A0XFVC - news) supplier CA Inc reported a 37% decline in books in its second quarter.

S&P 500 - Risers Amazon.Com Inc. (AMZN) $116.28 +24.43% Compuware Corp (NASDAQ: CPWR - news) . (CPWR) $8.12 +14.37% T. Rowe Price Group Inc. (TROW) $54.78 +11.55%

S&P 500 - Fallers MEMC Electronic Materials (WFR) $13.90 -9.91% Broadcom Corp. (BRCM) $28.12 -8.49% Burlingtn N Sante Fe (BNI) $79.16 -6.45%

Dow Jones I.A - Risers Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) $28.41 +6.83% Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ) $48.49 +0.35% United Technologies Corp. (UTX (A045880.KQ - news) ) $66.00 +0.15%

Dow Jones I.A - Fallers Boeing Co. (BA) $49.77 -2.55% American Express Inc. (AXP) $35.59 -2.33% Pfizer Inc. (PFE) $17.22 -1.94%

Nasdaq 100 - Risers Amazon.Com Inc. (AMZN) $116.28 +24.43% Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) $28.41 +6.83% Joy Global Inc (NASDAQ: JOYG - news) . (JOYG) $58.13 +4.93%

Nasdaq 100 - Fallers CA Inc. (CA) $21.37 -10.62% Broadcom Corp. (BRCM) $28.12 -8.49% Biogen Idec Inc (NASDAQ: BIIB - news) . (BIIB) $44.28 -6.25%