And handset sales -- where Nokia derives the bulk of its total revenue -- were stronger than anticipated.
Like many now, with hindsight, she has her own theories about why Iraqi resistance has proved stronger than anticipated.
Third-quarter profit was down 3percentt at Lehman Brothers and 7percentt at Morgan Stanley, which reported earlier this week, but at both companies performance was stronger than anticipated.
"The revival of the sovereign debt crisis in the middle of the year meant that the deceleration of trade was stronger than anticipated," he said.
"Evidence of a strong rebound in the global economy has continued to accumulate in recent months and the momentum of the recovery from the 1997-98 slowdown has proven much stronger than anticipated," the I.M.F. said.
"Each of the past three years, despite Congress and the president agreeing to spend more money, the surplus surged as a result of stronger than anticipated economic growth," said Ari Fleischer, a spokesman for Mr. Bush.
Intel's results — which included a 25 percent jump in revenue — were particularly embraced by Wall Street, as they were viewed as a sign that demand for hardware like PCs may be stronger than anticipated.
They point to a special House election to be held in Massachusetts on Tuesday, saying that Jim Ogonowski, a Republican running as a government outsider in a heavily Democratic district, has presented a stronger than anticipated challenge to Niki Tsongas, a well-connected Democrat.
In fact, though Sotheby's and Christie's both reported stronger than anticipated attendance and sales results at October's decorative arts auctions, the buy-in rate -- the number of lots that the house buys because bidding is not satisfactorily high -- was nearly double last year's at certain sales.
He says the stronger than anticipated growth was the result of numerous factors: signs of improvement in both the economy and housing market have boosted confidence, a shortage of properties for sale, and the Funding for Lending and Help to Buy schemes.
