quarter

The best of China will be put on display during the Olympics - the most beautiful landscapes, the cleanest streets, and the happiest citizens.  Don't be surprised if a Sohu banner turns up, too, as the search company's second-quarter results were quite impressive.

While that Microsoft-Yahoo business stole the show for a while, Baidu's found its way into the spotlight again.  The Chinese search engine company had an admirable second quarter, beating analysts' estimates in some important respects.

The usual and customary reaction to missing earnings predictions got under way after Google's reported 11 cents less than what analysts expected. Google explained why they should relax.

eBay's second-quarter earning report was respectable, all in all, with increases occurring in most measurable categories.  Many of those increases didn't meet investors' expectations, though, and the company seems to have adopted a cautious outlook for the future.

For the first time in thirty years, Wall Street saw a quarter come and go with no companies going public. The second quarter of 2008 proved to be a disappointing one all around. Adding on to residual distrust from the dotcom bust, venture capitalists and investment firms are reluctant to debut their startups to the public market during such a weak climate. Memories of Vonage's embarrassing public offering two years ago don't help the situation; venture capitalists feel going public during the current market's mood would be anticlimactic.

Even the worst earnings announcements try to spin things in a positive way; it's necessary to do a little deep-reading to find out what really happened.  comScore's first-quarter earnings just didn't have any bad components, though, and the company's stock is up about 20 percent this morning as a result.

TheStreet.com is looking somewhat worse for wear this morning; following its first-quarter earnings report, the company's stock dropped over 15 percent.

The market's doing its best imitation of a healthy Superman this morning - up, up, and all that - but Jupitermedia has been left on the sidelines.  Following the corporation's report on its fourth quarter earnings, Jupitermedia's stock is acting in a less than heroic fashion.