MICROSOFT

Microsoft Corp smashed Wall Street's earnings estimates once more, helped by strong sales of its Office software and Xbox game console, but its shares fell on concerns about soft PC sales reducing demand for its flagship Windows product.

Microsoft Corp reported a greater-than-expected 30 percent increase in fiscal fourth-quarter profit on Thursday, helped by sales of its Office software, but profit from its core Windows product fell on soft personal computer sales.

Nokia fell to a loss in the second quarter as it faces tough competition from Apple and Google's Android-powered smartphones, and recorded a restructuring charge. However, excluding one-time items, it managed to beat analysts' expectations.

Futures on major U.S. indices point to a lower opening on Thursday ahead of key weekly jobless claims data and corporate earnings.

The companies which are expected to see active trade on Thursday are: Microsoft, Morgan Stanley, Advanced Micro Devices, AT&T, Sandisk, Pepsico, Baxter International, BB&T, C R Bard, Western Digital Corp, VF Corp, Travelers Companies and Sherwin-Williams.

Tablets using Microsoft Corp software saw stronger sales than the high-profile Playbook from BlackBerry maker Research In Motion in the second quarter, according to Strategy Analytics.

Microsoft Corp is expected to post a 9 percent increase in fiscal fourth-quarter profit on Thursday, helped by solid sales of its Windows and Office mainstays, but investors may be distracted by evidence of flickering computer sales, which are key to its success.

RIM suffered another loss on Tuesday when its lead PlayBook developer defected to Samsung.

U.S. stocks were flat Wednesday as investors obsessed over the debt ceiling. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 16 points, or 0.1%.

Microsoft's Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS) string of outage woes continues with another outage on Tuesday.

Nokia is scheduled to report its second-quarter results on July 21 before the market opens.

Microsoft has dropped out of the bidding for television streamer Hulu, according to Internet reports.

The Canadian government will not review the purchase of patents belonging to bankrupt Nortel Networks by a group that includes Apple Inc, Microsoft Corp and Research In Motion Ltd, the industry minister said on Tuesday.

A fresh video of Nokia’s upcoming Sea Ray, powered by Microsoft’s Windows 7, has started doing the rounds on YouTube.

With the growing momentum in the smartphone market, Nokia is pushed to slash the price of its handset by 10 percent in Q4 of 2011 to boost its sales globally.

The deal brings to an end the litigation between recording companies and Baidu over piracy charges

Microsoft Corp is set to post a 9 percent jump in fiscal fourth-quarter profit on Thursday, putting the cap on its best financial year ever, but investors are fidgety over flagging computer sales and a gnawing feeling that the tech pioneer will never recapture old growth rates.

Analysts say losing to Apple could cost HTC financially.

Amazon's new Kindle Textbook Rental program will save students up to 80 percent off the retail price of new textbooks.

The United States International Trade Commission (USITC) ruled on July 15, that HTC had infringed on two of the four patents involved in its lawsuit with Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL).

In a cutthroat competition, the success of one player could turn out to be a failure for another. And right now, Microsoft may be thanking Google's Android.