This time around, says Greg Harrison, a senior research analyst at Thomson Reuters, only a handful of the sectors within the S&P 500 won't suffer from declining profits – healthcare, telecommunications, and a catch-all category dubbed "consumer discretionary", which includes retailers, media companies, and auto makers.
Corning Tops Estimates, Earnings Fall Corning topped analysts' estimates for the third quarter, but earnings fell as a result of declining demand for telecommunications equipment.
Telenor said it had written off half that amount, reflecting the decline in telecommunications and technology stocks across Europe.
In a Feb. 20 letter to investors, Mr. Lipper attributed the 40percentt loss that the fund would suffer in 2001 to fallout from the Enron debacle, the decline of telecommunications companies and the economic losses from the attacks of Sept. 11.
Faced with declining orders from major North American telecommunications companies for its switches and other equipment, Lucent Technologies warned Wall Street yesterday that its revenue in the current quarter would decline as much as 15percentt from the previous three months.
Telecommunications stocks were the only declining industry in the S.& P. 500.
The company, based in Lisle, Ill., is among telecommunications companies hit hard by declining orders.
Once a darling of the dot-com era, Lucent, which is now a telecommunications equipment company, collapsed when the telecommunications spending declined.
The intense competition among all the players in the telecommunications industry should keep retail phone prices declining, analysts say, even with AT&T's retreat.
But on the front lines, paid TV subscriptions--deals between consumers and cable companies, telecommunications companies, and satellite companies--are declining.
