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Microsoft (MSFT) Tumbles on Q2 Beat, T.I. (TXN) Beats & Raises

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Another big swing in what’s become a rollercoaster of a market lately found major indexes finish in the red across the board, even with the Dow, for the second time in two days, staging an heroic afternoon comeback from being down -819 points earlier. It was not to be, however: the Dow finished -0.19%, the S&P 500 was -1.22%, the Nasdaq again felt the brunt of the selling, -2.28% and the small-cap Russell 2000 was -1.45%, and is now clinging onto 2K for the index, at 2004.

After the closing bell, Microsoft (MSFT - Free Report) has fallen an additional -6% on just-reported fiscal Q2 earnings, even as the world’s biggest software company and Zacks Rank #2 (Buy)-rated stock beat expectations on top and bottom lines: earnings of $2.48 per share on $51.74 billion easily surpassed the $2.29 per share and $50.32 billion, respectively. Shares have already eased on the post-market sell-off, now -3.5%.

At a glance, we don’t see any particular reason Microsoft shares should be selling off on these numbers, unless the whisper numbers were for much bigger beats than the company reported. Growth in its Azure business grew in-line with estimates — +46% — but not above them; for the most important growth numbers at Microsoft, investors were perhaps looking for more here. It also speaks to the clear reality that traders aren’t finished punishing tech firms yet. Microsoft shares are +24% from this time a year ago.

A sort of mirror-image in the tech space after the regular session also hits the tape this afternoon: Texas Instruments (TXN - Free Report) is +6% on its top- and bottom-line beats, with $2.27 per share outpacing the $1.95 expected on $4.83 billion, which notches above the $4.44 billion in the Zacks consensus. Texas Instruments also cranked up both earnings and revenue guidance for Q1, to $2.01-2.29 per share and between $4.5-4.9 billion — ahead of the $1.88 per share and $4.39 billion earlier forecast.

The Case-Shiller Home Price Index was released for the month of November this morning, a look in the rearview but widely considered the most accurate gauges of home prices across the country. A headline of 18.8% was a touch below the downwardly revised 19.0% reported the previous month, but still amounts to the sixth-largest read in the index’s 34-year history. It also reaches a record high 282.44.

Both the 10-city and 20-city surveys are down a bit from October levels to +16.8% and +18.3%, respectively. But these are still historically strong numbers, led by Phoenix (+32.2%), Tampa (+29.0%) and Miami (+26.6%). Chicago, Minneapolis and Washington DC took up the rear, but still posted double digit gains.

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