Technology stocks are in the firing line on Wall Street, and that is largely down to IBM Corp, whose chief financial officer, Richard Thoman, told analysts late Thursday that it now expects to see a few more cents per share negative impact from currency fluctuations on its second quarter earnings. IBM confirmed that Thoman told analysts that because of the dollar strengthening overseas, he now expects rather more than the negative impact of $0.25 a share already in the share price – in contrast to the year-ago second quarter, when IBM saw a positive impact of 0.35 a share from currency fluctuations. Thoman also told analysts that the company is seeing the pricing pressures in semiconductors accelerating since the company last met with analysts on April 17. IBM will have a difficult comparison in personal computer hardware profit margins in the second quarter because the second quarter last year was one of the best for personal computer margins in several years. On the upside, Tho man said that product transitions are going well across the board, highlighting the AS/400, and said it is seeing good demand.
