I am hoping that people will begin to read great stories like these and get the feel good factor back. There is talk about the double dip recession but lets keep our minds focused on these great stories.

Profits jump at Microsoft by 60% boosted by Windows 7

Profits surge by 70% at Amazon

It is obvious that despite the US predicted to have a record deficit this year that America is out of recession and surging ahead. This in turn with bring along other countries like the UK for example and the rest of Europe.

It is good to see that some businesses are doing well, despite the turn-down. Whilst in the high street we see shops closing down and a high number of retail businesses seeing reduced profits or losses, this online business continues to work well.

This will continue to be the trend for the future, as we have seen more and more retail businesses reporting good returns from their online sales. Online sales tend on the whole to be cheaper than from high street stores, simply because of the lower overheads needed to run them.

For example, Amazon in the UK operates from one office together with four warehouses, so it is not burdened by huge retail rents and staffing costs that the likes of high street retail chains have. Amazon profits for the three months to December 2008 increased to $225 million (£158 million) from $207 million in the previous year (£145 million), giving them an total profit for the 12-months ended 31 December 2008 of around $1 billion (£700 million).