The stock slide which was precipitated by yesterday's failure by the House of Representatives to approve a bailout package for the ailing economy was a doozy.

 

The Dow fell 777 points and the only people smiling are the traders who make their living off volatility.

 

Lest you think that the tech sector was spared, stocks in such bellwether companies as Apple and Google fell hard. On the NASDAQ exchange, Apple closed down 17.9 percent, or $22.98, at $105.26 and Google ended off $50.04, or 11.6 percent, at $381.00.

 

Research in Motion, Nokia, Microsoft... shareholders all felt the pain.

 

Early reports this morning are showing a slight bounce after yesterday's massive selloff.

 

At 4:30 a.m. EDT, Reuters was reporting that S&P 500 futures were up 2.7 percent, Dow Jones futures up 1.8 percent and NASDAQ 100 futures were up 2 percent.

 

We'll see what transpires when markets open today.

 

Of course more importantly, we need to wait to see how all this turbulence will affect our IP communications and related markets. With tighter access to credit, and presumably fewer customers swapping out phone systems, it's all too easy to imagine a bleak outlook for our sector.

 

Still, some areas always appear better positioned to fend off any negative news.

 

Take for example wireless broadband demand.

 

This morning, there are reports that a group of 16 leading telecoms and IT companies are joining forces in a billion-dollar marketing initiative promoting mobile broadband under the banner of the GSM Association.

 

The goal is to educate consumers to identify laptops that have built-in access to the Internet via high-speed, next-generation wireless networks.

 

The Reuters article points out that "according to research commissioned by the GSMA and Microsoft and carried out by Pyramid Research, there is demand for $50 billion worth of such notebooks this year."

 

In the wake of bad economic news — yesterday’s 400+ point Dow Jones rally notwithstanding — many CEOs are faced with tough decisions as they map out the future of their companies, asking themselves, does it make sense to forestall growth until the downturn passes?

 

Frost & Sullivan’s chairman takes a bullish position on how he thinks today’s business leaders should approach the current climate of financial uncertainty. Check out this article and take a look at the list of recommendations the analyst firm puts forth for chief executives to consider.