As the world's best athletes compete in Beijing, the summer Olympic games are setting the stage for a battle between Microsoft Corp.  and Adobe Systems Inc. over the Internet's next big competition.

U.S. design software maker Adobe Systems issued a revenue outlook that disappointed some investors on Monday, sending its shares down more than 3 percent.

Stocks fell sharply Tuesday as a warning from Goldman Sachs that banks may need to raise another $65 billion rippled through the market, offsetting any positive impact from Goldman's earnings.

Stocks gave up early gains Tuesday as investors weighed better-than-expected earnings from Goldman Sachs and a sharp jump in wholesale inflation. Oil climbed more than a dollar, trading between $133 and $134 a barrel.

Adobe Systems reported earnings that outpaced expectations, driven by growth in sales of programs for photo editing, Web creation and graphics design.

Microsoft Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer said on Friday the company had never seen buying Yahoo as strategic, and dropping the bid meant it now had $50 billion to spend on other acquisitions.

U.S. company Adobe Systems stood by its second-quarter and full-year financial outlooks on Thursday, ahead of its 2008 annual financial meeting later in the day.

The maker of the popular photo-editing software Photoshop on Thursday launched a basic version available for free online.

Demand for design tools like Photoshop, Illustrator and Dreamweaver and for its Acrobat publishing tool pushed Adobe Systems' profit up 52 percent in the first quarter, but the software maker still forecast just 13 percent revenue growth for the year.

U.S. software maker Adobe Systems on Tuesday posted a higher quarterly profit and gave a forecast that topped Wall Street expectations, sending shares up more than 7 percent in after-hours trade.