Against this uncertain background, Google weighed in with an uplifting third-quarter report after the market closed Thursday, posting net income of $1.35 billion, up from $1.25 billion one year earlier, beating analyst expectations. It's a reassuring sign for Net advertising.

"As a leading ad company, Google would be impacted by a severe recession even though there is clear evidence that search advertising has been very economically resilient," said Gartner analyst Mark Mahaney in a research note issued before the earnings report.

Within two hours after the market closed, after-hours trading brought Google shares up by $32.00 to $385.00.

IBM also issued a strong report Thursday, reiterating its preliminary statement last week. IBM third-quarter net income grew by 20 percent to $2.8 billion. In after-hours trading, company shares jumped by $1.95 to $93.47. Analysts over the coming days, however, are sure to pick apart the company's statement that hardware sales and new service contract signings are slowing.

Meanwhile, financially beleaguered AMD gave investors some cheer Thursday, posting a loss of $67 million, or $0.11 per share, narrower than its loss of $396 million last year and better than analysts' predictions of a $0.40 EPS loss. The company's plan to split into a design company and a manufacturing company, with the manufacturer taking on most of the company's debt, has encouraged industry insiders. AMD shares, which have lost about 50 percent of their value this year, gained $0.53, trading at $4.65 in after-market hours.