Despite earlier this week announcing disappointing first-quarter results, Oracle Corp. (Nasdaq: ORCL) says it expects its second quarter will be stronger. However, many analysts are skeptical, as the company’s attempted takeover of Sun Microsystems Inc. (Nasdaq: JAVA) has not gone as smoothly as planned.

Oracle reported revenue for the three months ended Aug. 31 fell 5%, to $5.05 billion. Analysts were expecting $5.2 billion of sales.

Net income rose 4% to $1.1 billion, or 22 cents a share, by Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP), but the company leaned heavily on support contracts and cost cutting to maintain profitability. The world’s second-largest software maker blamed the drop on declining overseas sales and a stronger U.S. dollar.

“Oracle’s results were impacted by the reduced value of foreign currencies when compared to U.S. dollars, reducing Q1 GAAP earnings by $0.02 per share,” the company said. “Without this impact, Oracle’s Q1

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US stocks started the holiday-shortened trading week on a positive note as energy, technology and industrial shares pulled equity markets higher.  Although stocks seesawed in early trading, a gain in oil prices buoyed sentiments on the Street and investors raced to put money in the stock market. 

The Down Jones industrial average advanced 91 points or 1.1% and the S&P 500 increased 0.9%.  NASDAQ edged up 0.3%.  Volume on the NYSE was light with only 1.07 billion shares exchanging hands and advancing issues outpacing declining stocks by a three-to-two margin.  The measure of market volatility, the CBOE Vix, retreated 2.2% to 25.35%, its lowest level since mid-September.  Treasury prices jumped, with the yield on the benchmark 10-year note declining to 3.48%.  Crude prices jumped to more than $71 per barrel on higher demand expectations and reports that Nigerian militants partly shut down an offshore oil facility.    

Trading

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U.S. stock index futures pointed to a higher open on Wall Street on Friday as a recent spate of improving economic data beckoned investors back into equity markets for a second day.

Goldman Sachs added Microsoft Corp to its Americas ‘conviction buy’ list on improving revenue prospects, overshadowing a disappointing outlook from BlackBerry smartphone maker Research In Motion Ltd .

Shares of the software maker and Dow component rose 2.2 percent to $24.02 in premarket trading.

The Dow and S&P 500 snapped a three-day losing streak on Thursday as data on the job market and regional manufacturing revived hopes that the recession-hit economy is stabilizing.

“Sentiment is improving and a lot of people are taking the bet that the recession is over,” said Anthony Conroy, head trade for BNY ConvergEx, an affiliate of the Bank of New York, in New York.

Conroy added that the quarterly expiration and settlement of June equity options and futures, a convergence

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Progress Software Corp. (PRGS) is up about 1% today after reporting fiscal second-quarter earnings per share that topped estimates.

The software maker earned 39 cents per share for the quarter, excluding items, which topped the lowered consensus of 29 cents. However, adjusted revenue dipped 8% to $118 million.

Progress Software now sees full-year earnings between $1.72 and $1.81 per share, compared to its prior view of $1.70 to $1.80.

The company expects adjusted third-quarter profit of 38 cents to 41 cents per share and revenue of $120 million to $123 million.

Progress Software, a Zacks #3 Rank ("Hold") company, is moving on lower-than-usual volume of 109,000 shares while the daily average is around 190,751.

"PRGS" Free Stock Analysis: Buy? Sell? Hold?Zacks Investment Research

In low volume trading, as many have started the holiday weekend early, the markets were down with the Dow closing at 8277.32.  The NASDAQ was down 0.19% closing at 1692.01, with the S&P down 0.15% closing at 887.00.  The 10-year saw the yield fall to 3.45% as prices fell.  Oil and gold were both up, settling at $61.67 and $958.90 respectively. 

In earnings news, Autodesk [ADSK: 20.70, +1.87 (+9.93%)] announced earnings after hours yesterday; the company reported a loss of $32.1 million, or $0.14 per share falling from a profit of $94.6 million the same period the year prior, while also missing the street’s estimate of $0.08 per share.  The software maker saw revenue slip to $425.8 million this fiscal quarter as costs and poor tech spending, caused by the poor economy, hampered the company’s bottom line.  Shares of Autodesk stock were up significantly in after hours yesterday and over

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SolarWinds Inc. (SWI) shares powered up more than 20% in debut trading on Wednesday after the software maker's initial public offering priced above its expected range.

The Austin, Texas-based company's IPO was priced at $12.50 per share, above the expected price range of $9.50 to $11.50. SolarWinds is the sixth IPO this year in the US and the third to price above its expected range. However, the amount raised from the offering is still lower than the company's original target of $250 million when it registered for the IPO back in March 2008.

The provider of network management software is backed by venture capitalists like Bain Capital and Insight Ventures, both of which sold a portion of their stake in the offering. This is the first venture-backed deal to hit the U.S. market since August 2008.

SolarWinds has been profitable since its inception in 1999

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Krugman: U.S. in Danger of Lost Decade; Trichet Sees First Signs of Recovery; Plavix Could Have Serious Competitor; Intel Could Face Record Antitrust Fine; GM Open to Leaving Detroit; Microsoft in First Bond Offering; Dish Network Beats Expectations; Nortel Blows a Fuse

Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman said the United States needs to take aggressive economy-stimulating action or risk facing a lost decade of growth a la Japan in the 1990s. “We’re doing half-measures that help the economy limp along without fully recovering, and we’re having measures that help the banks survive without really thriving,” Krugman told reporters in Beijing, Reuters reported. “We’re doing what the Japanese did in the 90s.” European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet said he and fellow policy makers are ...

Wall Street turned lower Monday after some financial firms said they plan to sell shares to repay bailout money.  A whiff of caution was in the air as investors took to profit taking and put the money into safe-haven arenas.  Treasury prices advanced, with the price of the 10-year up 1 2/32; the dollar gained 0.4% against a basket of currencies, and the Vix volatility index jumped 2.6%.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average witnessed its steepest fall in three weeks, shedding 156 points, or 1.8% and the broader S&P 500 index declined 20 points, or 2.1%.  Volume on the NYSE was a moderate 1.49 billion shares.  Sentiment was negative as declining stocks beat advancing issues by a seven-to-three margin.

On Monday, U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB), Capital One Financial Corp. (NYSE:COF), KeyCorp (NYSE:KEY), Principal Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:PFG) and BB&T Corp. (NYSE:BBT) announced plans to sell stock. BB&T (NYSE:BBT) also

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Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) said it would sell bonds for the first time on Monday, finally complying with investor demands and becoming the latest company to take advantage of improving credit conditions by tapping debt markets.

The world's largest software maker disclosed its plans of selling 5-, 10- and 30-year notes in a regulatory filing. Although it does not need additional financing, the company said it would use proceeds from the sale for general corporate purposes, including working capital, capital expenditures, and repurchases of its capital stock.

Industry insiders also suggest that the company could use these funds for the potential acquisition of Yahoo Inc. (YHOO) or German software firm SAP AG (SAP).

Microsoft is one of the few companies that enjoy the coveted triple-A credit rating from both Standard & Poor's and Moody's Investors Service. Experts also consider it among the

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By Don Miller Associate Editor Money Morning In a surprise move yesterday (Monday), Oracle Corp. (ORCL) pounced on the opportunity to buy Sun Microsystems Inc. (JAVA), for about $7.4 billion in cash, stepping in after Sun’s talks with International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) fell apart. The deal gives Oracle control of server and software maker Sun’s coveted Java programming language and brings to a close Sun’s 27-year reign as the maverick of Silicon Valley. Java is the dominant language of the Internet and runs on over 1 billion devices worldwide. The acquisition is in line with Oracle’s overall business strategy. Oracle, the world’s second-biggest software maker, has dropped $34.5 billion on buyouts since 2005, making it the most aggressive software company in the hi-tech field. "The deal would strengthen Oracle’s position against IBM. Oracle has done a good job ...