Profits Slide as Dell Streamlines

Dell posted a 6.5% decline in profits for its fiscal fourth quarter yesterday, citing slowed consumer spending and the cost of restructuring, which included slashing thousands of jobs, the Wall Street Journal reports. The Dell results are likely to cause concern about other tech stocks—especially those that rely on the US consumer market—and doubts about Dell's ambitious turnaround plan.

"The pace of the turnaround is as slow as molasses," an analyst said. "They are showing some progress but it's taking a lot longer than I would have expected." The company, once the biggest PC seller in the world, saw its share price drop following the results. (More Dell stories.)