Stockwatch Daily: Europe hit by results woe

NEWS A flurry of disappointing results has pushed European stocks down this morning. UK software companies Sage and Logica were down 5.8 per cent and 3.7 per cent respectively as US companies fell overnight in after hours trading. Nortel shares plummeted 3.23 per cent in after-hours trading after the company reported a massive $20bn loss. Microsoft shares fell 4.64 per cent after hours, although the software giant met expectations. Mobile stocks were down too, led by a 2.65 per cent decrease in Nokia shares and an after hours drop of 0.85 per cent in Ericsson shares, which reported a $2.2bn loss in today's results. Marconi dropped 3.83 per cent and Vodafone tumbled 3.4 per cent. The biggest decrease of the morning came from B2B vendor Commerce One, which dropped 17.34 per cent after it posted a $2bn loss for the last quarter.