Microsoft/Adobe, The Rumor Mill Keeps Firing (ADBE, MSFT, AAPL)

Adobe Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: ADBE) has seen a flurry of volume today after the New York Times reported that Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) CEO Steve Ballmer and other executives showed up at Adobe’s corporate offices in San Francisco for a “secret” meeting with Adobe’s CEO Shantanu Narayen.

Obviously, Wall Street and Main Street will try to read deep rumors into this.  The real problem is that Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) does support many of the Microsoft platforms but it is moving away from Adobe’s Flash.

Whether anything is brewing, who knows.  Microsoft has more cash than ambition at this point.  Adobe has more challenges than it ever has before.

Adobe is up 7% at $27.54 on more than 46 million shares.  Unfortunately, this morning’s price of $25.45 marked new 52-week lows.

JON C.  OGG