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- <text id=91TT0680>
- <title>
- Apr. 01, 1991: Business Notes:Wall Street
- </title>
- <history>
- TIME--The Weekly Newsmagazine--1991
- Apr. 01, 1991 Law And Disorder
- </history>
- <article>
- <source>Time Magazine</source>
- <hdr>
- BUSINESS, Page 59
- Business Notes
- WALL STREET
- A Bad Case Of the Blues
- </hdr><body>
- <p> Few stocks can move the market like Big Blue. IBM, whose $63
- billion value ranks No. 1 among U.S. public companies, is
- America's most heavily traded stock, typically accounting for
- at least 25% of the stock market's activity. Last week the
- world's largest computer company demonstrated its mighty
- influence when it stunned Wall Street with a disappointing
- earnings report. After IBM announced Tuesday that first-quarter
- profits would be $514 million instead of the $1.03 billion
- analysts had expected, the stock plunged, cutting the company's
- value $7 billion in a single day. The rest of the market
- followed, tumbling 62 points in the biggest one-day loss since
- Oct. 9. The market lost 89 points for the week, one-third of
- the decline attributed to IBM.
- </p>
- <p> With 61% of its revenues coming from abroad, IBM blamed an
- international economic slowdown and the Persian Gulf war for
- poor earnings. Big Blue's bad news was especially troubling for
- other computer companies, such as Digital Equipment and NCR,
- whose stocks also fell as traders anticipated similar earnings
- declines.
- </p>
-
- </body></article>
- </text>
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