“U.S. stocks lost ground Friday as disappointing quarterly results from Dell rekindled investor concern about slowing corporate earnings growth. Within the benchmark index, Hewlett-Packard fell 0.9 percent in the wake of rival Dell’s fourth quarter earnings. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was last down 26 points… The S&P 500 Index fell 1 point, to 1,196 while the Nasdaq Composite Index was off 4 points, at 2,049, albeit off an early low of 2,039.72. ‘Obviously this morning it’s a Dell problem,’ said Elliot Spar, market strategist, at Ryan, Beck & Co,” Mark Cotton reports for CBS MarketWatch.
“Dell shares were under pressure in morning trading as some analysts expressed disappointment over its fourth quarter sales, with a forecast for first quarter sales also coming in just shy of current Wall Street expectations. Dell’s report comes just one day after Hewlett-Packard removed Carly Fiorina as chief executive. Many Wall Street analysts see Dell in a prime position to take market share from H-P as it searches for a new CEO. Dell Chief Executive Officer Kevin Rollins conceded that the upheaval at H-P ‘probably is’ an opportunity for his company to expand business beyond its prior expectations. Dell shares tumbled as much 5 percent, and were last trading down 4.5 percent, at $39.68,” Cotton reports.
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: What would we do if we were in charge of Dell? We’d shut it down and give the money back to the shareholders. 
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