Cisco Systems is sinking beneath an 18-month low, and Merrill Lynch's Henry Blodget seemed to throw in the towel on Internet stocks Thursday when he initiated coverage of the comparatively conservative Microsoft. The knell of layoffs rings with every earning release, and jobless claims rise like floodwater by the week. What is a tech investor to do? If you can bear it, take a lesson from Monty Python's The Life of Brian and look on the bright side. According to Subodh Kumar, chief investment strategist at CIBC Worldmarkets, you just might make some money that way. "Last year, we were underweight tech and overweight health care," he said, referring to CIBC's Benchmark Portfolio. "We've cut back to neutral (or market rate) in health care and are overweight tech, since tech will be one of the stronger beneficiaries of improved consumer sentiment. I think people have been a little too quick to buy into a "V-shaped" recover. The recovery in earnings will show up in late 2001 and in early 2002."
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