Market Minute: HP Ekes Out a Profit; Apple's Outlook Looks Brighter

A one-time tech titan continues to struggle, and the Google-Yahoo war heats up. Those and more are what's making business news Thursday.

The Dow Jones industrial average (^DJI) fell another 105 points Wednesday, falling back below 15,000. It's the Dow's sixth loss in a row, the longest down streak in more than a year. The Standard & Poor's 500 index (^GPSC) fell 9 points and the Nasdaq composite index (^IXIC) lost 13.

Earnings from Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) won't help improve the mood of investors. The tech giant's turnaround seems to be faltering. It reported a quarterly profit, but revenue fell 8 percent from a year ago -- and was especially weak in its key PC and server divisions. CEO Meg Whitman says revenue for the full year is likely to decline.

But shares of Apple (AAPL) could shine brighter. A prominent UBS analyst raised his price target for the stock to $560 a share. He expects strong sales of the low-priced iPhone that Apple is expected to introduce next month.

According to comScore, Yahoo (YHOO) drew more unique visitors last month than Google (GOOG). It's Yahoo's first win in several years. But analysts say Yahoo is still far behind in turning its huge base of users into profits. Microsoft (MSFT), Facebook (FB) and AOL (AOL) -- the site you're watching-- round out the top five in the comScore (SCOR) rankings.

A customer satisfaction survey by J.D. Power shows American Express (AXP) remains the top ranked credit card. It was followed by Discover (DFS), Chase (JPM), Barclay's and U.S. Bank (USB).

Two more retailers post disappointing numbers. Sears Holdings (SHLD) reports its loss widened from a year ago, and revenue fell.

And shares of Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF) are set to tumble after the teen retailer said earnings and sales both fell sharply.

And rising interest rates mean the spurt of mortgage refinancings is coming to an end -- and that means jobs cuts. Wells Fargo (WFC), the nation's largest mortgage lender, is eliminating 2,300 positions in its home-lending unit.

-Produced by Drew Trachtenberg.

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