European shares dipped in morning trade, but remained on course for strong weekly gains on Friday while Spanish and Italian bond yields hit their lowest levels in over half a year.

Investors awaited results from a number of industrial companies on Friday, including bellwether General Electric (GE.N).

Microsoft Corp's (MSFT.O) quarterly profit fell a greater-than-expected 22 percent, as sales of computers running its Windows operating system dipped and some revenue was deferred ahead of upcoming releases of its core Windows and Office products.

Yahoo Inc's (YHOO.O) South Korean operation has decided to pull out of the country and end its local Internet portal service in December, Yonhap news agency reported.

Archer Daniels Midland (ADM.N) bought a 10 percent stake in GrainCorp (GNC.AX) on Friday, valuing the Australian grains handler at $2.8 billion, and is seeking talks on a takeover that would give the U.S. agribusiness a stronger platform to supply Asia.

ETrade Financial Corp reported a loss for its third quarter, largely because of the failure of third parties to report important data about loan holders to the company in a timely manner, the online financial services company said on Thursday.

Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc (CMG.N) said on Thursday that restaurant sales growth would cool in 2013 and some analysts said that might signal the end of the hyper growth investors had come to enjoy.

Japan's Softbank Corp (9984.T), which is set to buy a 70 percent stake in U.S. wireless carrier Sprint Nextel Corp (S.N), would not rule out making a competing bid for MetroPCS Communications Inc (PCS.N), the Wall Street Journal reported.

Capital One Financial Corp's (COF.N) quarterly profit rose 44 percent as the lender reaped the benefits of its acquisitions of ING Direct's deposits and HSBC Plc's (HSBA.L) U.S. credit card business.

Chipmaker Marvell (MRVL.O) cut its revenue estimate for the current quarter and announced the departure of its chief financial officer, sending its shares down 9.3 percent in after-hours trading.

Network gear maker Riverbed Technology Inc (RVBD.O) reported a better-than-expected third-quarter profit and forecast strong results for the current quarter as demand grew for its products that boost data speeds over wide-area networks (WAN).

PC chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices (AMD.N) said on Thursday it will cut its work force of nearly 12,000 by 15 percent, its second round of layoffs in less than a year as it struggles with a weak global economy and a consumer shift toward tablets.

SanDisk Corp's (SNDK.O) quarterly results topped expectations as rising demand for chips used in smartphones and tablets and a limited supply drove up prices for flash memory, a trend that the chipmaker expects will continue.

U.S. stocks fell on Thursday, with technology stocks hit hard after Google's surprisingly weak earnings - released prematurely during the trading day - disappointed investors.

The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI dipped 8.06 points, or 0.06 percent, to close at 13,548.94. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index .SPX shed 3.57 points, or 0.24 percent, to 1,457.34. The Nasdaq Composite Index .IXIC fell 31.26 points, or 1.01 percent, to end at 3,072.87.

(Reporting by Blaise Robinson. Editing by Jeremy Gaunt.)

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