Before the Tokyo conference, the Afghan government trimmed estimates of what it said it needed in order to fit the outcome on Sunday.
Worse, as signs of weakness accumulate, forecasters have trimmed estimates for the current quarter from around 3.5% they were projecting a month ago to 2.7% or less now.Last December an agreement between Barack Obama and the Republicans to extend George Bush's tax cuts and enact new ones led to forecasts of 3% to 4% growth this year.
Some rushed to trim estimates, putting likely earnings per share 7% below last year's $1.46.
Morgan Stanley said Dow Chemical is its "favorite diversified name" in its commodity chemicals coverage, but trimmed estimates slightly.
Niles proactively scaled back his calendar 2001 estimates on Xilinx, Altera's rival, to $1.01 a share from $1.25, and, for calendar 2002, trimmed estimates to $1.31 from 1.59.
The International Monetary Fund forecast that advanced economies will shrink for the first time since World War II next year, and it trimmed estimates released just a month ago.
Banc of America said the deceleration in the company's DMX systems sales was more that previously expected and preliminary figures from FileNet and Veritas Software encouraged the firm to trim estimates for EMC's Documentum and Legato divisions.
The panel is starting to fret about America, trimming its estimate of American GDP growth, and has revised up its estimates of consumer-price inflation through 2005.
The company is worth $32 a share, he said, after trimming his estimate from $35 last week in the wake of the company's downbeat sales and earnings forecasts.
Earlier this month, TNS, part of Taylor Nelson Sofres, reduced its forecast for growth in ad spending this year, trimming its estimate to a gain of 1.7percentt, from a 2.6percentt gain forecast in January.
