Microsoft profit falls 29 percent

SEATTLE – Microsoft Corp. said Thursday its profit in the last quarter plunged 29 percent because of weak computer sales, ending a fiscal year in which the software maker’s revenue fell for the first time since the company went public in 1986.

Microsoft’s revenue in the quarter was well short of analysts’ expectations, and its shares plummeted $1.94, or 7.6 percent, to $23.62 in after-hours trading. Before the earnings report the stock had closed regular trading up 3.1 percent at $25.56.

Microsoft’s earnings sank to $3.05 billion, or 34 cents per share, from $4.3 billion, or 46 cents per share, in the same period last year.

Ford in the black after tough year

DEARBORN, Mich. – Helped by a lightened debt load, Ford Motor Co. posted a surprise second-quarter profit of $2.3 billion Thursday, following the worst loss in company history a year earlier. Shares rose 9 percent in afternoon trading.

The net profit ends a string of four straight quarterly losses for the nation’s second-largest automaker, which has gained U.S. market share at the expense of cross-town rivals Chrysler Group LLC and General Motors Co., both of which spent time under bankruptcy court supervision. Ford last went into the black in the first quarter of 2008, with net profit of $70 million.

Cheaper fuel helped airlines

DALLAS – Three U.S. airlines said Thursday that they made money in the April-June quarter, the start of the summer travel season, with help from cheaper jet fuel and extra fees on passengers.

The CEO of US Airways said bookings have picked up and the swoon in business travel may be easing. JetBlue expects to make money the next two quarters, and talked about expansion.

But traffic and revenue continued to fall at all three carriers – US Airways, JetBlue and Alaska Airlines.

Bank of Canada: Recession is over

OTTAWA – Canada’s central bank is declaring the recession essentially over, saying Canada’s economy will begin growing this summer after nine months of stagnation and lead most of the industrialized world next year.

Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney said Thursday the economy will grow this quarter.

The bank has dropped its April call for a 1 percent contraction this quarter and now says the economy will instead expand by 1.3 percent on an annualized basis.

That will be followed by a 3 percent advance in the last three months of this year, and 3 percent growth next year.

But Carney says the economy remains dependent on government stimulus and his pledge to keep the interest rates at a historic low of 0.25 percent until mid-2010.