Google profits disappoint market

There were signs of a slowdown at Google after it reported disappointing profits in its most recent quarter.

Google's profits were up 17% to $1.21bn (£608m) for the three months to the end of December.

Some analysts had been hoping for stronger profit growth and its shares fell sharply in after hours trading.

Google's shares have fallen more than 18% so far this year on concerns that the slowing US economy will cause advertisers to cut back on spending.

Investors have become used to Google reporting extremely strong profit growth.

Analysts say the latest quarter shows that even Google is not immune to an economic slowdown in the US.

As the US slowdown fear looms large it is better to do margin trading and book profits to buy stocks for long term when price of stocks reduce further.