Microsoft Q4 earning

Microsoft's net income fell to $3.05 billion, or 34 cents a share, from $4.3 billion, or 46 cents a share, a year earlier. Revenue fell 17% to $13.1 billion, below the Thomson Reuters estimate of $14.37 billion. Full year net at $14.6bn.

Ford Motor Co. swings to 2Q profit

Ford Motor said it had second-quarter net income of $2.3 billion, or 69 cents per share, compared with a net loss of $8.7 billion, or $3.89 per share, a year ago. That was the company’s worst-ever quarterly result.Ford’s second-quarter revenue declined 40 percent, to $27.2 billion from $41.1 billion a year earlier.Ford’s North American operations had a pre-tax loss of $851 million, compared with a loss of $1.3 billion a year ago. The loss, the company said, was cut primarily by structural spending cuts and improved market share. The unit’s second-quarter revenue was $10.8 billion, compared with $14.2 billion a year earlier.

Hyundai posts record Q2 profit

Hyundai Motor Co. said Thursday its second quarter net profit rose 48% to 812 billion won ($650 million) from 547 billion won a year earlier, boosted by a weaker local currency and domestic tax incentives for auto purchases. The result was above the average forecast of 405.8 billion in a survey by Dow Jones Newswires, which added that the quarterly profit was the highest ever for the South Korean auto maker. Sales for the three months ended June 30 totaled 8.08 trillion won, down from 9.1 trillion won in the year earlier period, but domestic sales were up 15% on year.

Samsung Electronics Posts Unexpected Profit Increase

Samsung Electronics, the world's biggest memory-chip maker, Friday reported a better-than-expected 5.2% rise in second-quarter net profit thanks to strong shipments of memory chips, flat-screen panels and televisions. For the three months ended June 30, Samsung posted a net profit of KRW2.25 trillion, up from KRW2.14 trillion a year earlier. Sales rose 11.7% to KRW32.51 trillion from KRW29.1 trillion a year earlier, while operating profit rose to KRW2.52 trillion from KRW2.4 trillion a year earlier.

Oracle profit down by 7.4%

Oracle Corp., the world’s second- largest software maker, reported fourth-quarter profit that topped analysts’ estimates after customers renewed contracts for product updates and support.

Net income fell to $1.89 billion, or 38 cents a share, last quarter, from $2.04 billion, or 39 cents. Including revenue from acquired companies, sales dropped to $6.88 billion, compared with the $6.47 billion estimate of analysts.

Shares were up 2.8% to $20.44 in recent after-hours trading. Oracle's stock has been rebounding since hitting a three-year low in March.

Japan May Trade Surplus

Japan's trade surplus for May fell 12.1% from the previous year to 299.8 billion yen ($3.14 billion), the Ministry of Finance said Wednesday. The nation's exports fell 40.9% on year, as the trade surplus with the U.S., its biggest export market, shrank 52.9% and its surplus with Europe tumbled 75.4%. Imports slid 42.4 percent from a year earlier, and the trade surplus narrowed 12.1 percent to 299.8 billion yen ($3.1 billion), the Finance Ministry said.

Japanese cooperative earning news

Aozora Bank Ltd., the Japanese lender controlled by Cerberus Capital Management LP, replaced Chief Executive Officer Federico Sacasa after forecasting a 196 billion yen ($2.1 billion) full-year loss.
Canon Inc., the world’s largest camera maker, forecast profit will fall to the lowest in a decade as the stronger yen cuts overseas earnings and prices fall.
Net income will drop 68 percent to 98 billion yen ($1.1 billion) in 2009, Tokyo-based Canon said today. That’s less than the 160 billion yen median of nine analyst estimates compiled by Bloom Daimler posted a net loss of EUR1.26 billion in the fourth quarter compared to a net profit of EUR1.7 billion in the same period a year earlier. Its closely watched earnings before interest and tax, or Ebit, plummeted to a EUR1.95 billion loss in the fourth quarter compared to a profit of EUR1.39 billion in the prior yearberg this month.
Denso expects a loss of 64 billion yen ($713 million) for the year ending March 31, the company said in a statement today. That compares with an earlier forecast of 10 billion yen in net income. The company expects an operating loss of 62 billion yen
Daiichi Sankyo, Japan's third-largest drugmaker, posted a $3.7 billion quarterly loss and forecast its first ever annual loss, hit by a slide in the value of its stake in Ranbaxy Laboratories
Honda said it earned $208 million (20 billion yen) for the three months ended Dec. 31. That was down nearly 90 percent from $1.77 billion (200 billion yen) a year earlier.
Revenue in the quarter fell 2 percent to $26.4 billion (2.53 trillion yen) from $26.9 billion (3.05 trillion yen) in the last three months of fiscal 2007.
KDDI reported a 253.92 billion yen profit for the period. Nine-month sales declined 0.3% to 2.63 trillion yen as sales continued to lag behind rivals Softbank Corp and NTT DoCoMo Inc.For the full year through March, Tokyo-based KDDI lowered its sales forecast to 3.5 trillion yen from its earlier projection for 3.7 trillion yen because of the lagging sales of mobile phones.
Net income will probably drop 68 percent to 24 billion yen ($267 million) in the 12 months ending March 31 from a year earlier, lower than the 47 billion yen estimate made on Oct. 30, Tokyo-based Nikon said today. Sales may fall 10 percent to 860 billion yen.
NTT's profit for the nine month period rose to 544.08 billion yen ($6.05 billion) from 322.22 billion yen a year earlier.
Group revenue dipped slightly to 7.73 trillion yen from 7.84 trillion yen, while operating profit rose 16 percent to 1.01 trillion yen from 874.38 billion yen.
NTT DoCoMo released its earnings for the nine months ending December 2008 today, which includes its third quarter results. The incumbent carrier posted a 30 percent drop in net income from October to December to 91 billion yen ($1.01 billion) compared to 130 billion ($1.45 billion) in the same period a year ago. DoCoMo’s operating profit for the third quarter declined 22 percent to 170 billion yen ($1.89 billion) from 217 billion ($2.42 billion) a year ago. Sales, meanwhile, fell 7.2 percent to 1.11 trillion yen ($12.3 billion) from last year’s 1.2 trillion yen ($13.4 billion).
Results for the nine-month period from April-December were better, with DoCoMo posting a 16 percent rise in net profit of 438 billion ($4.8 billion) yen, up from 376.5 billion yen ($4.2 billion) in the same period a year earlier. Operating income climbed 19 percent to 746.8 billion yen ($8.3 billion), on the back of 3.38 trillion yen ($37.7 billion) in salesSony Ericsson fourth-quarter net loss was 187 million euros ($245 million), compared with a profit of 373 million euros a year earlier, the London-based company said in a statement today. Sales fell 23 percent to 2.91 billion euros. Sony Ericsson booked costs of 129 million euros in the quarter to trim its workforce.
Toyota sold about 2.236 million vehicles worldwide in the three months ended Sept. 30, down 4.3 percent from 2.336 million a year earlier, according to an e-mail from the company. General Motors Corp., the world's largest carmaker, will release its third-quarter sales figure on Oct. 29.

China Trade Surplus sharnk after export plunge by record

China’s trade surplus plunged in February as exports fell by a record, adding pressure on the government to spur domestic consumption to prop up the world’s third-biggest economy.
The trade gap narrowed to $4.8 billion, about an eighth of the amount in the previous month, the customs bureau said in a statement. Exports tumbled 25.7 percent from a year earlier. Imports fell 24.1 percent.
Exports fell 17.5 percent in January and imports declined a record 43.1 percent. Bloomberg’s data goes back to 1995.
After hitting a record $40 billion in November, China’s trade surpluses may stay below $20 billion for the next six months because of weaker demand, said Xing Ziqiang, an economist at China International Capital Corp. in Beijing.

Japan’s GDP Shrinks 12.7%, Most Since 1974

Japan’s economy shrank at an annual 12.7 percent pace last quarter, the most since the 1974 oil shock, as recessions in the U.S. and Europe triggered a record drop in exports. GDP fell for a third straight quarter in the three months ended Dec. 31, the Cabinet Office said today in Tokyo. The median estimate of 26 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News was for an 11.6 percent contraction. Exports plunged an unprecedented 13.9 percent from the third quarter as demand for Corolla cars and Bravia televisions collapsed amid a slump that the Group of Seven nations said will persist for most of 2009. Toyota Motor Corp., Sony Corp. and Hitachi Ltd. -- all of which forecast losses -- are firing thousands of workers, heightening the risk a decline in household spending will prolong the recession. Yosano said the government has no plans to compile additional stimulus measures before next fiscal year’s budget is passed. Parliamentary gridlock has blocked the passage of Prime Minister Taro Aso’s 10 trillion yen ($111 billion) package, helping his popularity slide ahead of elections due by September.

US auto sales in Feb

US auto sales extended their downward spiral in February, falling 41 percent to the lowest rate since December 1981 amid a deepening economic crisis, industry data showed Tuesday.Total US light vehicle sales came in at 688,909 units in February, which translates into a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 9.12 million vehicles compared with a rate of 15.36 million in February 2008, according to Autodata. GM posted the sharpest year-on-year decline among major automakers, with sales down 53 percent to 127,296 vehicles in February and its market share down to 18.2 percent from 22.7 percent a year earlier. Ford, which has said it has sufficient cash reserves to survive the downturn without government aid, saw sales plummet by 48 percent to 96,044 vehicles in February and its market share slip to 13.9 percent from 15.7 in February 2008.It announced plans to slash second quarter production by nearly 40 percent to 425,000 vehicles from 685,000 vehicles in the second quarter of 2008.Chrysler, which recently asked the US Treasury for another five billion dollars in loans to supplement the four billion it received in January, also posted sharp losses on a year-over-year comparison -- down 44 at 84,050 vehicles.The Japanese automaker reported its sales fell 37 percent on a year-over-year comparison to 109,583 vehicles but said it would not need to make any more significant production cuts at its US facilities on top of those made earlier this year