The June book-to-bill ratio was still extremely heavy on the plus side at 1.17, but it was down from 1.20 in May, and most analysts had forecast 1.20 again, so the figure can be seen as a disappointment for overheated markets, and was enough to knock Philips Electronics NV’s share price off the boil – investors had suddenly remembered that the Dutch electronics conglomerate did have a chip business and pushed the shares to new highs on the back of it. The US Semiconductor Industry Association was late with the figure because two companies were so busy filling orders that they reported late. New orders for June were off 0.6% on the May figure at $4,260m, ships were up 2.3% at $3,650m.
