Forget today’s ticker. Tech is showing strength across the board In a nervous market, share prices can bounce around like corn in a popper. But with the fall earnings season at the midpoint, tech companies are showing strength across multiple sectors. There have been solid reports from chip makers, including Intel; outsourcers such as Satyam; Google, Amazon and Yahoo! in e-commerce; Seagate, whose sales are larg Forget today’s ticker. Tech is showing strength across the boardThere have been solid reports from chip makers, including Intel; outsourcers such as Satyam; Google, Amazon and Yahoo! in e-commerce; Seagate, whose sales are largely tied to the health of the PC industry; and Apple. Software is still something of a mixed bag; IBM’s software business was weak, SAP is problematic and Microsoft won’t report until Thursday afternoon. Oracle, the other software bellwether, posted a 25% quarterly gain in profits when it issued its financial report last month. Results aside, the volatility has been rather amazing. On Tuesday, Amazon, Google, and Research in Motion, chalked up big gains in share prices. Amazon’s bump was driven by a very strong quarter. But then the market decided that the online seller’s margins might not be good enough for the Christmas season, and the stock tanked Wednesday morning, taking much of the NASDAQ with it. Even worse for the broader market was the terrible report by Merrill Lynch which reminded investors that the credit crunch is far from over. Even that could have a bright side: some Wall Streeters figure the news could convince the Fed to cut rates a bit more. Meanwhile, it looks like Microsoft, whose share price moves at glacial speed, will give investors something to cheer. Analysts polled by Thomson Financial are forecasting 39 cents a share for the September quarter on $12.6 billion in revenue. Both profit and sales figures would represent double-digit percentage gains over the numbers the software giant posted for the same period last year.Halo, Microsoft’s popular first-person shooter, drove a boatload of Xbox 360 sales last month. According to NPD Group, a research outfit that specializes in retail sales data, sales of the game console hit 527,800 units during the month, nearly double the number of units sold in August. Xbox sales are somewhat paradoxical because Microsoft loses money on each one it sells, so better sales equal slightly lower earnings. Contract manufacturer Flextronics, on the other hand, does make a profit on the Xboxes it makes for Microsoft and that helped the company post a strong quarter. Seagate is interesting as well. In an interview with Barron’s, CEO Bill Watkins said that his company has sold out its production for the fourth quarter, and is turning away orders for millions of units. He also said that Seagate has no current plans to increase its capacity, a refreshingly conservative move in an industry driven by frenetic boom and bust cycles. Apple hit a home run, as we all know, but it’s still worth noting that very strong iPhone sales gave AT&T a boost; the telco giant netted 2 million new subscribers in the quarter, the biggest jump in the company’s history. EMC reports early Thursday, and it should give us answers about the enterprise storage market and important clues about the strength of business spending on IT. And finally, the PC market: We won’t hear from Dell and Hewlett-Packard until next month, but the strong showings by Intel and Seagate certainly indicate strength in demand. Moreover, worldwide PC sales sped up in the quarter with 15.5% year-over-year growth, according to research firm IDC. Sales by Dell finally accelerated, particularly in Europe and Asia. The bottom line: This is a brutal, volatile market. But tech’s losses have been largely caused by larger worries about the credit crunch and its parent, the sub-prime mortgage meltdown. I’d be sweating a lot more if I didn’t see solid sales and earnings by the major players. I welcome your comments, tips and ideas. Write me at bill.snyder@sbcglobal.net Technology Industry