Online at least, the consumer is still strong, as retailing giant Amazon (NSDQ: AMZN) reported Q2 revenue of $4.06 billion, up 41 percent from last year and above the $3.94 billion that analysts had been calling for. Favorable currency effects did at $18 million, however. Net income more than doubled to $158 million ($.37 per share) from $78 million ($.19 per share) in the year-ago quarter. The company says, however, that it booked a $53 million gain on the sale of its European DVD rental business. It’s a little unclear from the report what impact this had on net income. If the number is clean, it’s a huge beat over the $.26 per share analysts were expecting. More as we work through this point. Either way, the market isn’t reacting too excitedly, as the stock is up fractionally after hours down fractionally after hours. Meanwhile, gross margins, always a key question, actually contracted slightly (23.8 percent vs. 24.3 percent). Just to emphasize the confusing nature of the report, Amazon shares initially spiked 8 percent after hours, and are now off about 1.55 percent.

-- Media revenue grew 31 percent to $2.41 billion.
-- Another 30,000 developers joined its Amazon Web Services program, bringing the total to around 400,000.
-- The only Kindle figure in the release: There are now 140,000 titles.
-- And not in the release: any detail on the MP3 store, Kindle sales, or really any numbers on digital, which is to be expected. We’ll be listening on the call, but the company probably won’t say much, numbers-wise on this stuff.

Release | Webcast (5:00 PM ET)

-- David adds: As Joe predicted above, during the Q&A, Tom Szkutak, Amazon’s CFO, declined analysts’ questions on the dollar amounts or sales figures for Kindle or the MP3 store. The discussion otherwise focused on Amazon’s position in the larger economy—free shipping will make it more attractive to customers, Szkutak said. But overall, “We’re not a good bellwether for the economy.”