Bloomberg is carrying the story, Intel Cuts $1 Billion From Sales Forecast Amid Slump:

Intel Corp., the largest computer-chip maker, lowered its fourth-quarter sales forecast by about $1 billion amid “significantly weaker” demand across its entire product line. The shares dropped 6.8 percent in late trading.

Revenue will be $9 billion, plus or minus $300 million, and profit margins will be short of projections, Intel said today in a statement. The Santa Clara, California-based company originally predicted sales of between $10.1 billion and $10.9 billion.

Intel, whose chips run more than three-quarters of the world’s computers, said customers worldwide are “aggressively” chopping orders as they cope with falling sales. That signals that the U.S. economic slump, which Chief Executive Officer Paul Otellini already expects to be the worst of his lifetime, is spreading overseas.

“I didn’t think things were anywhere near this bad,” said David Wu, an analyst at Global Crown Capital in San Francisco. “There was a lot of noise about things getting worse, but it’s still shockingly bad guidance.”

Once again, analysts are being surprised to the downside. Seriously, Intel’s pretty big. Analysts really do try to make accurate calls for them. They just failed. This indicates that we still have a way to go before this market becomes more orderly. Unless something significant gets announced tomorrow morning, I’m guessing that this is going to drive the markets.

Unfortunately for me, Intel happens to be one of the stocks in my IRA. I’ve recently sold some covered calls to help provide some downside cushion. The aftermarket figures indicate that I needed a bigger cushion. Still, Intel is one of those companies that I’m willing to bet will be around when everything is said and done. If not, all technology stocks are going to go down the toilet. That said, expect all technology stocks to drop a bit tomorrow. Be pleasantly surprised by any tech that rises.

Update

I just checked my calendar for tomorrow. Jobless data will be released in the morning. That’s probably not going to help.