SAP Sparks Fear

SAP, which had looked unstoppable for much of the year, stumbled in the second quarter, sparking fears that IT spending may be slowing.

The unexpected miss provoked a selloff of SAP shares; in recent trading the stock was off $3.19, or 6.3%, to $47.15. Most software issues were down as well, though the bulk of those losses were much smaller.

Despite the poor second quarter, the company reaffirmed guidance for the rest of the year. CEO Henning Kagermann said the miss does not signal an industry-wide slowdown, and said on a conference call that a number of deals that were expected to close at the end of the quarter slipped. "The good news is we have not lost deals, the order entry is extremely strong and the pipeline is strong, so that's why we could reaffirm our guidance," he said on a conference call after the announcement. ...