Before the bell: Futures decline; MS posts earningsAdobe Systems (NASDAQ: ADBE) shares are climbing 6.4% after forecasting second-quarter earnings above Wall Street estimates. Demand for design tools like Photoshop, Illustrator and Dreamweaver and for its Acrobat publishing tool pushed its profit up 52% in the first quarter. Adobe forecast just 13% revenue growth for the year, compared to 37% in the first-quarter, perhaps indicative of how the slowdown in the economy could be affecting the software maker going forward and hence its cautiousness.
The Register reports that Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) took 14% of the US retail computer market last month, up from 9% a year ago. When looking at sales revenue, Apple's share is more like 25%, up from 14% in the same period last year, according to market watcher NPD. In case anyone has forgotten, these figures only prove that Apple is not just iPod and iPhone, but a growing computer business as well.
Also, the Financial Times reported that Apple is in talks with major music companies to radically change the music download business. As Doug McIntyre noted when posting on the report, instead of charging for songs, Apple may give away all of the music on the iTunes service and make up for it by charging more for iPods and iPhones. The negotiations will have to overcome a dispute over the price Apple would be willing to pay for access to the labels' libraries.
Sony Ericsson, the 50-50 mobile phone making joint venture from Ericsson (NASDAQ: ERIC) and Sony (NYSE: SNE) warned Wednesday that slower growth in its European markets would hit sales in the first quarter. The company also assured investors that gross-profit margin will hold steady at last year's level. ERIC shares are down over 13% in premarket trading.
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