Earnings Preview: Apple Inc (AAPL), Microsoft Corp (MSFT), Yahoo Inc (YHOO), Amazon.com Inc (AMZN)

Apple Inc., the world's most valuable company, is on pace to post sharply higher earnings for its April-June quarter, which is surprising given the company typically sees its strongest growth in the fall during the launch of its flagship iPhone products. Meanwhile, Microsoft Corp., the world's largest computer software company, is unexpectedly on a new phase of growth, thanks in part to solid revenue in its cloud business, despite global personal computer sales suffering their steepest declines ...