What next

The word recession has become a very deadly word these days as people are dreading the effects of the same. The way things are going along these days no one knows where it will end up. It is fast becoming what next can you expect!

Things seem to be just drifting along with the end nowhere in sight. Earlier experts were predicting that the market sentiments would definitely improve by the third quarter of 2001. This sentiments was driven by the fact that Intel was supposed to unveil its next generation P4 processor in September followed by the much-hyped launch of Windows XP by Microsoft.

These two high-profile launches were expected to spur the sales of PCs, which in turn was expected to boost the morale of the industry as a whole. We are now more than half way through into the fourth quarter and nothing seems to have improved. In fact, the whole situation seems to have deteriorated instead of showing any improvement. Now if you go by the prediction made by the industry experts, things are expected to improve by the second quarter of 2002.

But will it that is the question.

From all indications, we seem to have reached the bottom of the barrel as there is no more depth where you can reach out. If you go by the reports, buyers have started appearing in the market and it is only a matter of time before the business confidence shows signs of improvement.

For instance, just see the results of the last quarter announced by a number of vendors. Hidden in the numbers is the quiet confidence that the current quarter will be better than the previous one.

Also, just witness the increasing occupancy levels in hotels and airlines. The numbers have improved considerably. Which means there is no reason why quarter one of 2002 should not be the one with a big bang. And when that happens, people will stop asking what next.