Before the bell 06-16-06: GOOG, MSFT, YHOO, EBAY

Posted Jun 16th 2006 8:31AM by Melly Alazraki
Filed under: Before the Bell, Google (GOOG), Microsoft (MSFT), Yahoo! (YHOO), eBay (EBAY)

After a significant two-day run, could it be profit-taking time?

Asian markets posted considerable gains over night, but European markets are more subdued with their gains. Stock futures are currently down pointing indeed to an expected mild profit-taking today.

While Fed Chairman Bernanke already said yesterday (Thursday) that the recent pickup in inflation and inflation expectation could be due to energy and commodity prices, St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank President William Poole continued on the same line. He warned that we may not see yet in the current inflation data the pressure from the rising gasoline and oil prices, suggesting the Fed may have to keep raising rates.

The biggest after-hours news came from the software sector: Microsoft Corp. Chairman Bill Gates announced he would give up day to day operations at Microsoft, Oracle Corp. increased its earnings outlook and Adobe Systems lowered its profit forecast.

Here's a look at some key Blogging Stocks:

Google (GOOG) is down $0.41 in pre-market trading to $390.59 as of 8:38 a.m. At the heel of Google's launch of its Government search site, the question investors are asking is whether Gate's leaving day to day operation at Microsoft could have any impact on competitors?

Microsoft (MSFT) is down 10 cents to $21.97 as of 8:38 a.m. MSN collaborates with LivePlanet to produce next-generation original online content, but the big news after the trade yesterday was undoubtedly Bill Gates, Microsoft Corp. Chairman, stepping back from day-to-day operations.

Yahoo! (YHOO) is up 1 cent to $30.80 as of yesterday, 7:46 p.m. Yahoo unveiled the new features of Yahoo! 360, and is planning a Hack Day starting noon today - I wonder what can they come up with.

eBay (EBAY) is up 9.45 cents to $30.83 as of 8:40 a.m. While Google claims its web buying system, dubbed GBuy, is nothing like PayPal, there is also news of UBS starting eBay at neutral with a target price of $35.

Tags: bernanke, ebay, gates, goog, google, microsoft, msft, yahoo, yhoo

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

6-16-2006 @ 9:53AM

douglas mcintyre said...

Will Microsoft Build An iPod Killer
Word surfaced in the NY Post that Microsoft (MSFT) has been in discussions with the music industry to create a competitor to Apple (AAPL) iPod and ITunes.

It hardly matters. A look at the breakout of Microsoft's 10-Q indicates that the company makes it money from its old-line OS businesses. Attempts at starting up new businesses like search and web portals have fallen relatively flat. Microsofts share of the search business is a distant third to Google and Yahoo!.

Apple's lead counts. Industry reports indicate that the company may have sold as many as 8.2 million in May. Sony can take a run at this business. LG can. And, so can Microsoft. But, it is one business where although some small share may move to new competition, the lion's share will stay with Apple.

Douglas A. McIntyre can be reached at douglasamcintyre@gmail.com He does not own securities in companies he writes about.