Q1 08 results are just being received and so far so bad! Alcoa and AMD just issued results and they were both very disappointing. The funny thing is that metals and tech fared better than average over the past few months. Therefore, the financial results of others could be quite shocking. Also, so much for a weaker USD improving the earnings of multinational companies as thus far energy/raw material costs have outpaced any sales gains.

Almost time for seatbelts - VHF

Alcoa Says Profit Falls 54% as Energy Costs Rise (Update2)

By Dale Crofts

April 7 (Bloomberg) -- Alcoa Inc., the world's third-largest aluminum company, said first-quarter profit tumbled 54 percent because of surging energy costs, a weaker U.S. dollar and lower metals prices.

Net income fell to $303 million, or 37 cents a share, from $662 million, or 75 cents, a year earlier, New York-based Alcoa said today in an e-mailed statement. Excluding some items, profit was 44 cents a share. The company was expected to earn 50 cents, the average estimate of 14 analysts in a Bloomberg survey. Sales fell 6.7 percent to $7.38 billion.

Advanced Micro Sales Miss Forecast; Job Cuts Planned (Update2)

By Ian King

April 7 (Bloomberg) -- AMD, the chipmaker that's posting losses amid competition with Intel Corp., said first-quarter revenue missed its forecasts and announced plans to cut 10 percent of the staff.

The shares slid 6.9 percent in late trading after Advanced Micro said sales fell to about $1.5 billion. That would be down 22 percent from a year earlier and 15 percent from the holiday period, a steeper slump than usual for this time of year.

The cuts, which would number more than 1,600 people, may signal market-share losses, said analyst John Lau at Jefferies & Co. Sunnyvale, California-based Advanced Micro has posted losses in five straight quarters after falling behind larger rival Intel in introducing products and racking up costs for its acquisition of ATI Technologies Inc.