Even after IBM Corp. surprised Wall Street with a healthy profit in the third quarter and a reaffirmation of its earnings outlook for the rest of the year, the broader technology sector dived again Thursday. There’s just not decent of what lifted IBM to go around.

Tech stocks were pummeled Thursday, and IBM ended the day down as well. Analysts expressed fears that Armonk, New York-based IBM could see trouble in the fourth quarter and into 2009 whether the

lending and spending climate worsens as expected.

Signs of weakness in the just-concluded third quarter could additionally emerge when IBM releases its full results for the period on Oct. 16. The company announced more than a week early Wednesday that profit per share was 4 cents higher than Wall Street’s forecast, helped by an internal clampdown on spending.

What IBM didn’t include in its short statement was any mention of the value […]

Orginal post by dhiram