| Microsoft pared its forecasts for the current quarter, signalling that the surging US dollar will eat into revenue more than it previously expected and underscoring the threat of inflation and tighter economic policy for an industry that’s already been pummeled by a broad-based market rout.about 1.8 per cent Thursday mid-morning after Microsoft said it now expects earnings per share of at least $US2.24, compared with an earlier forecast of at least $US2.28.
Analysts said Microsoft’s revised outlook “will be a recurring theme across many large software companies”The company got about half of the $US168 billion in revenue generated in fiscal 2021 from overseas. The speed of US interest rate increases relative to other developed economies and the war in Ukraine have fed a surge in demand for the dollar, which increased more than 7 per cent since the start of the year before paring some of those gains recently. The greenback’s climb has sent the euro, British pound and Japanese yen tumbling.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in a recent press briefing that the administration is committed to a market-determined exchange rate, even as she acknowledged that the currency’s gains have posed concern for other countries.