| | (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp topped Wall Street forecasts for quarterly profit as it signed up more businesses to its Azure cloud computing services and Office 365 productivity suite. | | | LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Starbucks Corp's sales at established cafes in its U.S.-dominated Americas region grew slightly more than expected in the latest quarter amid increasing competition from upscale independent cafes, convenience stores and fast-food chains. | | | NEW YORK (Reuters) - A gauge of global equities advanced on Thursday, buoyed by a round of solid quarterly earnings in Europe and the United States, while the euro weakened after the head of the European Central Bank hailed "solid" economic growth but kept interest rates unchanged. | | | HOUSTON (Reuters) - ConocoPhillips , the world's largest independent oil and gas exploration and production company, posted a bigger-than-expected first-quarter profit on Thursday, helped by rising crude prices and cost cuts. | | | NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks advanced on Thursday with each of Wall Street's major indexes ending the session up 1 percent or higher, boosted by solid earnings results and a rebound in technology stocks as U.S. bond yields pulled back. | | | (Reuters) - Amazon.com Inc reported first-quarter revenue and profit on Thursday that trounced analysts' estimates, driven by a surge in online shopping and higher demand for its cloud services. | | | (Reuters) - Southwest Airlines Co on Thursday warned the consequences of a mid-air engine explosion last week will weigh on second-quarter bookings, as investigators continued to probe the events that led to the first passenger death in the airline's history. | | | SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Investors are accustomed to the bold promises of Tesla Inc's Elon Musk, but his assertion that the electric vehicle maker will not need more funds this year has many scratching their heads. How can the chief executive deliver on his many goals without a fresh infusion of outside cash? | | | NEW YORK (Reuters) - A former HSBC Holdings Plc executive was sentenced to two years in prison on Thursday after he was found guilty by a jury of defrauding Cairn Energy Plc in a $3.5 billion currency trade in 2011. | | | NEW YORK/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Wall Street lobby groups urged U.S. policy makers and regulators to revamp rules to encourage more initial public offerings and to reduce the regulatory cost of staying public, in a white paper issued on Thursday. | | | NEW YORK, April 26 (Reuters) - Square Inc, the payments company led by Twitter Inc Chief Executive Officer Jack Dorsey, will acquire website building startup Weebly, the company said on Thursday. | | | | |