Micromuse Falls on Downgrades

By TSC Staff ,

Updated from 8:54 a.m.

Micromuse

(MUSE)

was down 9.2% in early trading after suffering a slew of downgrades on fears that slowing IT spending in Europe will hurt earnings.

CIBC World Markets

downgraded the stock to hold from strong buy,

Deutsche Banc Alex. Brown

downgraded it to buy from strong buy,

Morgan Stanley Dean Witter

to neutral from strong buy, and

Wit SoundView

to buy from strong buy.

Shares fell 19% Wednesday on rumors that the software company would warn on third-quarter results. At a technology conference in New York Wednesday, CEO Greg Brown did not offer specific guidance, but added that the business environment was the most difficult he has seen.

Other business software stocks were suffering today, including

Siebel

(SEBL)

, down 10.7%, and

i2

(ITWO)

, down 11.4%.

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