Those who anticipate weaker results sell.
Conglomerates like Hitachi and NEC that depend on corporate sales released weaker results today.
It said group sales totalled £1.12bn with UK sales offsetting weaker results from the insurer's overseas operations.
Many carriers have reported weaker results in the latest quarter partly because the price of jet fuel has surged.
But investors are bracing for weaker results, given the market turbulence in March and big home equity losses.
But weaker results from corporate banking and from banks it owns in Britain and Ireland were more of a surprise.
See articleCisco Systems reported weaker results than expected because of companies' reduced spending on technology.
Despite the weaker results for the first quarter, GSK stuck to its estimates for sales growth and improved margins for 2012.
Although expectations of weaker results from the economic slowdown have been built into the market, they said, any unexpected weakness from one of these companies could spread gloom.
Richard Horowitz, the company's chairman and chief executive, forecast the company would produce weaker results for the first quarter than it did in the same quarter last year.
Revenue increased 7percenttoto $9.05 billion as growth in television, parks and consumer products offset weaker results from the movie studio.
