Intel Chief Executive Craig Barrett says the personal computer market is finally turning around, though the corporate market is still rough. And the best Cisco Systems' John Chambers can say for business this spring is that it might not get worse. Everyone in Silicon Valley is looking for the bottom to the technology industry's slump, and more than a few people claim to have found it.
Money appears to be flowing from the bond market back into stocks again.
Many analysts say that investors already have factored in the negative reports companies are only now making public. Hewlett-Packard's newly cautious optimism accompanied word Wednesday that it will miss its earnings targets and make the management cuts. Those job reductions are expected to involve shifting some into other positions, and come in addition to layoffs it announced earlier this year. Layoffs at Siebel Siebel Systems on Wednesday announced a layoff of about 800 employees and Palm and Yahoo started giving out pink slips to local workers. Even if a bottom is within sight, the next step won't necessarily be up.