Demand for server hardware rebounds
Morning News Over Easy
November 24, 2000 08:36 AM PT
by Michelle Rushlo
They may have missed the early sales, but traders on U.S. stock and
bond markets may still be able to make it before the mall racks are
totally cleared out.
The stock market closes three hours early at 1 p.m. ET, while the bond
market closes at 2 p.m. ET.
Server demand on upswing
Demand for server hardware -- at least some of it -- is back.
After a sluggish first half of the year, server demand bounced during the
third quarter after businesses finished their post-Y2K buying breather,
according to research firm Gartner Dataquest.
Dataquest said demand rebounded particularly in Europe, and that
strongest growth was aimed at Unix servers. Shipments rose 43
percent over the year-earlier period, while Intel chip-based servers
rose only by 1 percent.
That was music to the ears of investors in hardware companies like
Sun Microsystems (SUNW), Hewlett-Packard (HWP) and IBM
(IBM). Each of the companies, which make Unix servers, got a bounce
in their stock price on the news today.
London commodities market goes electronic
Commodities traders shouted their last orders across the floor of the
London International Financial and Options Futures Exchanged today.
The LIFFE, one of the last traditional futures markets, will go totally
electronic Monday. Computer mice will replace the hollering in the
coffeee, cocoa, wheat, barley and other pits.
"It's the end of an era," one floor trader told Reuters.
The migration has angered many traders and brokers, who find
LIFFE's approach high-handed, its fee structure too expensive and say
volumes traded will suffer without the personal touch.
"If you were on the floor in your colored jacket, you had an edge on
proprietary traders. You were there, you could smell it (the market),"
said a financial futures trader who has gone through a similar migration.
With Monday's migration to screen trading, the only two remaining
open-outcry markets in London are the 124-year-old London Metal
Exchange, the world's largest base metals market, and the International
Petroleum Exchange.
'I want my Playstation 2'
The much-hyped Sony (SNE) Playstation 2 hit Europe today, but
much like its American debut, it was marked by disappointment of
many would-be buyers.
The consoles, which offer faster and better gaming and play DVDs,
were delivered to customers who ordered early but won't be on sale in
shops until next year.
Sony has said that components shortages, in part, kept it from
delivering enough of the consoles in the United States and in Europe.
In Britain, around 80,000 people on the waiting list turned up to collect
the hotly awaited new machine at shops, many of which opened
specially at midnight.
Analysts say Europe is the world's largest market for video game
machines. In Britain, almost one in four households is estimated to own
an original Playstation console.
Nintendo sales slow
Nintendo would probably love to have a bigger piece of Sony's
action.
Its shares were battered today after it warned that its profits would not
meet expectations because of slowing sales of its Nintendo64 game
console and software.
The Japanese company, which makes the top-selling handheld player
Game Boy, said it expected to make 78 billion yen for the full year,
which ends in March, down from 82 billion forecast previously. |
