A 31% jump in fiscal second quarter profit at Oracle Corp was not enough to satisfy the market, which had been looking for more, and the shares were a very dull market in early trading on Friday, dropping $3.50 to $43.75 in pre-open trading. Analysts had been looking for a penny a share more than the $0.27 per share net Oracle reported, and unless you come in significantly ahead of the forecast, your shares take a pasting. Wall Street is not keeping too close an eye on the way that Chancellor Kohl’s determination to go down in history as the German leader that abolished the Deutschmark is driving most of continental Europe back into recession, and so were disappointed by slowing European sales. The Redwood Shores, California database software king reported net profit for the three months to November 30 of $179.5m, on sales that jumped 36% to $1.31bn. Database sales in the period rose 24% from the year-earlier period, but that represented a screeching of brakes compared with the a 41% jump in the fiscal first quarter. Total sales in Europe rose by only 16%, compared with a 49% growth rate in the Americas. Sales of applications jumped 77%, but sales of tools declined 8%. Geographically, Oracle said sales from North and South America grew most at 49%, followed by the Asia-Pacific region, where sales rose 44%.
