General Electric Calls Current Environment 'Difficult', Revenue Misses

General Electric (GE) beat earnings estimates, turning in 29 cents a share versus 26 cents expected. Revenue, however, missed with $27.9 billion versus $28.5 billion. General Electric CEO Jeffrey Immelt says GE performed well in a difficult and volatile environment as oil and gas orders were down. Meanwhile, Mattel (MAT) continues to see slow Barbie sales and that dragged down earnings. Profit at the toy company fell 33% in the quarter. Mattel is hoping a new talking Barbie will boost sales during the holiday season. Markets globally are rallying on the heels of big gains on Wall Street. Soft economic data are leading many to believe the Federal Reserve will not raise interest rates in the near future, perhaps not till 2017. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 logged the best close since August's plunge.