You know the economy has begun to turn the corner when
even dot-com laggards are beating analyst expectations.
Yahoo! (Nasdaq: YHOO) and
eBay (Nasdaq: EBAY) aren't as popular as they
were during their heydays in the 1990s. They're probably the
last kids picked in your fantasy dot-com pool. However, eBay
did manage to
narrowly surpass Wall Street targets, just after Yahoo!
beat the Street as well.
The one thing that should be clear, especially to those
betting against the market these days, is that all of the
cost cuts that companies have promised over the past year are
materializing and bearing fruit.
This wasn't lip service. Yahoo!'s operating costs have
shrunk by 18% over the past year.
Dell (Nasdaq: DELL) is another laggard, but
it appears to be serious in its goal to trim $4 billion of
annual operating fat over the next two years.
The market rally isn't going to last forever. It never
does. However, most companies have made genuine moves to make
the most of what they're getting. It's an encouraging sight,
especially for those long the market.
Briefly in the news
And now let's take a quick look at some of the other
stories that shaped our week.
McDonald's (NYSE: MCD), even though the
world's largest restaurant chain
posted a dipin quarterly revenue. How can this be? Is
the company shuttering some of its golden arches? Hardly.
Revenue would have inched higher, if not for currency
translations.
Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT)
released Windows 7on Thursday.
Hasta la vista, Vista!
Freeport-McMoran (NYSE: FCX) is back! The
copper and gold miner posted healthy quarterly numbers and
even
reinstated its annual dividend. Things are fine in the
mine, apparently.
Until next week, I remain,
Rick Munarriz
This article was originally published as
A Fool Looks Backon
Fool.com
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