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Politics : Formerly About Applied Materials -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Jerome who wrote (48637)	7/2/2001 4:05:52 PM
From: Gottfried	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 70976

Jerome, thanks for the strategy. I wonder what you'd do for Democrats? <G> Gottfried sold SLB today and now hold no energy stocks.

To: Jerome who wrote (48637)	7/2/2001 6:51:12 PM
From: Proud_Infidel	Respond to of 70976

Europe's weakening economy threatens IT spending in 2002, 2003, warns IDC Semiconductor Business News (07/02/01 13:19 p.m. EST) FRAMINGHAM, Mass. -- Weakening economic conditions in Europe now threaten to wipe away as much $150 billion in information technology spending between 2001 and 2003, warned researchers at International Data Corp. here today. In the worst-case scenario, the brunt of the slowdown would be felt in 2002 and 2003, said IDC. During the first half of this year, IDC had been predicting double-digital growth in European information technology spending for hardware, software, and IT services. A slight slowdown in Europe's economic growth was not expected to have a major impact on the region's markets for computers, peripherals, communication systems, and other IT products, but now spending in some hardware segments "has clearly tempered," said the research firm. In particular, weakness has begun to hit network service providers, and PC sales growth is slowing, IDC said. "Software and services are still expected to show strong growth this year," said Stephen Minton, manager of IDC's Global IT Economic Outlook research program and the European IT Markets Center. "Similar to the story in North America, we expect that any economic slowdown would have its most severe impact on hardware demand. Historically, hardware spending is highly vulnerable to swings in the overall economy." Currently, IDC forecasts 11% growth for IT spending in Western Europe this year. At the bottom end of the economic predictions, a worst-case scenario for Europe calls for only 7.9% growth in 2001. But this slowdown would likely continue into 2002 and potentially into 2003 as the European economy struggles to maintain growth while controlling inflation, according to IDC. Most at-risk countries include Germany and Italy, with the United Kingdom expected to be more stable, said the research firm. "For European suppliers, the importance of understanding the broad economic picture has never been more important," Minton said. "Events in the United States have dispelled the myth that technology spending is immune to an economic slowdown."