The Dow Jones
What's holding back the Dow and other markets today? Tech isn't helping. The Nasdaq-100
What's wrong with tech?
In a column just yesterday I advised investors to not look too closely into the continuing string of tech earnings failures from the likes of Cisco and Dell
Well, NetApp reported last night, and it was bad. The company had a pretty good last quarter, seeing sales still rise 12.8% over last year. However, the low end of its guidance for next quarter hints at sales falling as low as 4% year over year. Ouch!
It's hard to ignore NetApp's cautious outlook, and the IT environment is definitely starting to feel the way it did last summer, when markets plummeted as global growth fears were focused on the U.S. debt stand-off. That situation was resolved, and now instead we see companies being cautious thanks to Europe and its continuing crisis with its weaker countries' debt problems.
This could take a while
The unfortunate reality is that we might need to buckle up and prepare for a rash of poor reports, not just across the technology space, but other industries as well. Last summer markets eventually managed to rebound, but not before some truly heart-pounding late summer months. The best advice at times like this is to buy high-quality companies which will be able to expand their market share in times of crisis and come out the other side of economic worries no worse for the wear. That's the recipe for long-term, market-crushing results.
Good long-term ideas
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