In a hold note Jefferies said: Preliminary earnings per share is in line with our estimate and 1% ahead of consensus despite a slowdown in organic revenue to 3.1% in fourth quarter, driven by Europe and the rest of the world.
The consensus is that a slowdown or a "correction" of property prices, and delays to some existing projects, are likely, but a crash impossible.
In spite of the economic slowdown in the U.S., the current consensus among 23 analysts reporting to Thomson Financial/IBES calls for IBM's revenue to increase 8% this year, to $95 billion.
While leading economies disagree on how to address the contagion caused by a slowdown in the Chinese economy, they reached consensus on the need for "flexible spending", according to officials.
Wolseley is experiencing a slowdown in the markets outside the US, while consensus expectations on the potential for further margin improvement appear excessive.
The consensus view is that the expected slowdown is likely to create enough spare capacity to suck inflationary pressures out of the economy.
Then Microsoft, saying it sees no pending slowdown in the PC market, reported earnings that beat consensus estimates by 5 cents a share.
The slowdown has sent Alan Greenspan back to his office, and the consensus is that he won't raise interest rates again for a long time.
More than a million jobs have been lost to the slowdown in the last year, and Mr. Greenspan reflected the overwhelming consensus among economists when he said he expected the unemployment rate to continue rising, even during a recovery.
While the Federal Reserve is calling for a slowdown in the economy, should jobs come in too far below the consensus estimate, it could send a shiver of fear through investors.
