12 February Compaq says sales growth will 'stagnate'. The head of Compaq Computer Corp, Michael Capellas said that the computer manufacturing firm's sales would 'stagnate at zero growth' in the first quarter of 2001 as a result of a slowdown in demand for PCs. He said that PCs now make up less than half of their total sales, while memory chips and servers are taking over as the bestsellers.
Research shows Europe less good at share buybacks.
The Financial Times reported this morning that research published by JP Morgan shows that European firms are better at announcing share repurchases than they are at completing them. It said that analysts feel that companies make the repurchase announcement to show that management are confident in their stock and therefore increase share prices, but are then more reserved when it comes to actually following the plans through. Napster ruling to come today. A US Federal court will rule today on whether or not Napster, the online music downloading website, should be closed down. The RIAA say that Napster's ability to provide its 50m users with music is illegal as it 'infringes the copyrights of labels and musicians'.