Well, we're in the thick of earnings season, and Apple, the biggest company in the world by market capitalization, failed to meet high investor expectations in its latest quarterly resorts yesterday.  Wall Street wiped as much as $66bn from Apple's value following the report.  The company sold 47.5 million Iphones last quarter, while revenues in China doubled.  Apple didn't disclose sales figures for the newly released Apple Watch, but indicated that sales are outpacing internal projections. (WSJ)

News was bad over at Microsoft, as the Seattle-based company tumbled to a $3.2bn net loss last quarter, the worst in its history.  The results were weighed down by a strong dollar, and a multi-billion dollar write-off related to assets acquired from Nokia.  Microsoft is in the midst of an identity change, and recently announced the layoff of 7800 workers.  (FT)

Boeing beat analyst estimates this morning, with sales rising 11% year on year.  Boeing's results have been buoyed by strong commercial-jet demand.  The company reported a profit of $1.1bn, and an order backlog that totals $431bn.  (WSJ)

Regulators are poised to clear AT&T's $49bn acquisition of DirecTV in a major victory for the companies amid government scrutiny and skepticism over telecoms mergers.  The combination will be the biggest distributor of TV in the US, and one of the country's leading internet service providers. (FT)

S&P 500 futures are down 10 and NASDAQ futures are down 65.  The MSCI international index is down .45%.
 
Oil is up $.44 at $50.59 a barrel.  Prices hit a 4 month low yesterday, touching the lowest level since April as a persistent supply glut continues to weigh on traders.  The US shale boom continues to prove resilient in the face of lower prices.  
 
Gold is down $13 at $1090 a Troy ounce.  Gold hit a 5 year low yesterday, down 9 days in a row, as investors continue to sell the medal in anticipation of higher interest rates.