Cisco offered guidance for the current quarter that, on the upper end, is greater than what market watchers have been expecting. The company forecast profit of $0.42 to $0.44 per share on revenue of $11.13 billion to $11.23 billion. Analysts on average expected $0.42 per share on revenue of $11.14 billion.
Online Retail Is Good Looking Despite economic concerns, the U.S. online retail market so far is looking as good as ever, according to a comScore report this week. U.S. retailers' online sales increased 13 percent year-over-year to $36.3 billion in the third quarter, the eighth consecutive quarter of growth, comScore said. The main driver behind the numbers was a 22 percent growth in the number of people buying merchandise online, the company said.
"We are optimistic about the continued health of the e-commerce sector despite other factors -- including stubbornly high unemployment and volatile financial markets -- currently weighing on the economy. More consumers than ever before are relying on the online channel for product and pricing information," said comScore Chairman Gian Fulgoni.
As has been the case for the last several quarters, economic concerns, especially worries about European debt, appeared to have had as much of an effect on IT share prices this week as did financial results or supply-chain reports.
The focus on Europe's economic woes has shifted from Greece to Italy, where Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi announced he would step down after a fiscal austerity plan makes its way through Parliament. A default on sovereign debt by Italy, the world's eighth-largest economy, would have a far greater impact outside of Europe than a Greek default.
Italy's political chaos caused markets to decline in the middle of the week. On Thursday, however, a successful Italian offering of debt securities put markets back on the upswing. Italy raised €5 billion ($6.8 billion) in an auction of one-year securities.
All major indexes in the U.S. rose Thursday. Friday morning, the Dow jumped 271.21 point to hit 12165. The S&P rose 25.21, to reach 1264.90. And the Nasdaq rose 48.62 to hit 2673.68. Computer stocks on the Nasdaq rose 22.83 point in aggregate, with Cisco shares rising 0.41 to $19.04.
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