Google results filed by mistake

Google inadvertently released its draft quarterly results hours ahead of schedule, significantly missing expectations on both revenue and earnings .

Google said its financial printers, RR Donnelley, filed its draft results statement without authorisation. Google stunned Wall Street after it reported a 20 per cent dive in net income to $2.18 billion. Excluding certain items, it earned $9.03 a share, vastly underperforming the $10.65 analysts had expected, on average. It reported net revenue — excluding traffic acquisition costs — of $11.3 billion for the third quarter, below Wall Street's expectations for about $11.9 billion. The announcement pushed its shares down 9 per cent to $687.30.

The Dow Jones industrial average slipped 9.29 points, or 0.07 per cent, to 13,547.71. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index fell 4.10 points, or 0.28 per cent, to 1,456.81. The Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 31.01 points, or 1.00 per cent, to 3,073.11.