SAN FRANCISCO – Major IT OEMs gave cautious outlooks on the macro environment and overall IT spending at an analyst-sponsored conference last week.  
 
Deutsche Bank said IT spending will grow a tepid 2 to 3% in 2008, and near-term visibility “seems cloudy.” The US remains slow, wrote analyst Chris Whitmore in a research note today, while deterioration seen in Europe and Asia is showing regional “softening.”
 
Ongoing problems in the financial vertical are a “high concern,” as that segment makes up some 19% of IT hardware expenditures. Several participants in the conference, which included HP, Sun, Xerox and Hitachi, among others, forecast weaker demand.