Microsoft Corp, Cisco Systems Inc and computer makers may lose $4.3 billion in orders next year as the credit crisis forces financial companies to cut spending to the lowest level since 2000.
Finance-industry technology outlays will sink 20 per cent to $17.6 billion next year from an estimated $21.9 billion in 2008, said Larry Tabb, founder of Tabb Group in New York, which tracks securities firm budgets.
Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc’s bankruptcy and Bank of America Corp’s purchase of Merrill Lynch & Co mark the beginning of stark spending cuts amid plans for a $700 billion government bailout for Wall Street. More than 20 per cent of global technology spending comes from the finance industry, said researcher Gartner Inc.
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