More companies report 3Q results. Jobless claims rise. UPDATED

This morning the big news in reporting earnings came from McDonalds. They beat estimates for earnings per share by a few pennies, but did not get top line growth in Revenue. As a matter of fact, they said that informal dining out has dropped globally. Two other companies reported this morning, Merck and AT&T. Both of them also did not have top line Revenue growth. Without top line Revenue growth we are very vulnerable for a double dip recession. More companies to report today after the bell. Stay tuned on that front.

The Dow had difficulty again staying over the 10,000 level as it retreated to 9949 and the S&P 500 dropped back to 1081. Weekly Jobless Claims gained 11,000 to 531,000 from 520,000 last week. The four week moving average for jobless claims is at 532,250.

European markets are down again this morning and the dollar is up. The Dow Futures is up in pre-market but with the dollar up, I see the Dow headed down for the day. The S&P and the Nadaq are both down in premarket and should begin that way as well following the dollar's gain.

UPDATE: 7:20am PST

UPS reported lower earnings and lower top line Revenue than last year. 3M reports better earnings AND top line growth in revenue.

UPDATE: 2:00pm PST

Xerox says Sales fell 16 percent to $3.68 billion.

UPDATE: 3:30PM PST

JUNIPER Sales for the third quarter ended last month were $823.9 million compared to $946.9 million revenue booked in the year-ago period. That's another company not growing Sales from last years results.

U.S. Airways total revenues in the third quarter were down 16.6 percent versus the third quarter of 2008. And another company has less revenue than 2008.