Markets and IT Services Industry Roundup - week ending May 15, 2009

Markets Roundup:

• Markets logged a weekly loss of 5.0%, its worst in two months, on profit taking following the market's record April rally
• US trade deficit widened to $27.6 billion in March, which is the first time in eight months that the deficit widened
• April total retail sales decreased 0.4%, and sales less autos decreased 0.5% as compared with consensus forecast for total sales to be flat and sales excluding autos to increase 0.2%. However, the decline wasn't as sharp as what was seen in March, when total sales slid 1.3%, and sales less autos declined 1.2%.
• March business inventory data showed a 1.0% decrease in inventories, which was largely in-line with expectations
• Continuing jobless claims climbed more than expected to a record high of 6.56 million. With jobless claims mounting, many expect consumer spending to remain challenged
• April CPI met expectations by coming in flat, while Core CPI saw a stronger increase than had been expected by coming in with a 0.3% monthly increase
• Industrial production for April fell 0.5%, which wasn't as bad as what had been expected, and capacity utilization came in at 69.1%, moderately better than what was expected
• Media reports said the cost of borrowing between banks had fallen, offering a refreshing sign that credit conditions were loosening

Industry Roundup:

• Tech services sector was down 1% during the week
• IBM has helped the Health Insurance Institute of Slovenia to roll out a new electronic health insurance card system across the country that enables healthcare providers to instantly and accurately check a patient's health insurance status and allows for health claims to be processed online.
• HP Middle East introduced its latest Document Management technology, with the launch of products aimed at increasing efficiency and security of business-critical document workflow for companies in the Middle East
• Accenture is reportedly about to open a subsidiary in India under a separate name with rates well below the premium-level pricing Accenture has traditionally charged, according to the Economic Times of India. As per the report, the new unit will bill at rates about 10% below the $27 or $28 hourly rate Accenture charges its clients.
• CSC announced today that the US Army has awarded the company a task order to provide systems engineering, technical and program support for the Project Manager, Defense Communications and Army Transmission Systems. The task order has a one-year base period and two one-year options, bringing the estimated total three-year task order value to $226 million
• CSC was awarded SAP Global Pinnacle Award for its achievements in global information technology outsourcing on the eve of SAPPHIRE, SAP’s annual customer conference. The company also was recognized as a finalist in the customer satisfaction category.
• ACS has been awarded a $37.5 million contract to assist the state of Louisiana to oversee construction and handle claims of eligibility for the Small Rental Property Program, an initiative to rebuild rental property damaged by hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
• ACS will provide Medicaid fiscal agent services to the State of Virginia under a five-year, $84 million contract. Under the contract, ACS will assume operations of the state's existing Medicaid management information system and enhance the system with 24-hour access for transactions processing and improved online provider enrollment.
• TCS obtained a five-year contract to provide information-technology support to Volkswagen Group UK Ltd.
• TCS and Infosys announced separately that Forrester cited them as Leader in its April 2009 report "The Forrester Wave(TM): Global IT Infrastructure Outsourcing, Q1 2009”
• Infosys Australia’s recently formed strategic consulting group bagged its first big-bank client, one of the big four in Australia, this month for a range of IT consulting services.
• Infosys and Oracle today announced the completion of the implementation of a global Human Capital Management (HCM) system, based on Oracles PeopleSoft Enterprise, at Weatherford International Limited.
• Equitorial Trust Bank, one of the leading indigenous banks in Nigeria, has signed Infosys’ universal banking application, Finacle, to replace their current legacy Globus banking application. ETB joins other banks such as Hatton National Bank in Sri Lanka in moving away from the Globus to Temenos upgrade track and pitching tent with Finacle.
• HCL AXON, integrated SAP services division of HCL Technologies, announced that Jet Aviation has selected HCL AXON`s proprietary maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) solution, iMRO, to optimize the management of MRO operations within their existing installations of SAP solutions
• HCL Technologies announced that it has built a hosted SAP infrastructure for MIsys, a provider of integrated solutions for banking, treasury and capital markets, which will deliver predictable and standardized SAP performance for Misys’ end-to-end users across America, Europe and Asia. The benefits of the solution to its users include scalability, flexibility and ease of deployment for SAP applications.
• HCL Technologies announced that it has engaged with Rockwell Automation to achieve referenced status as part of the Rockwell Software Enterprise Solution Partner Program. During the initial membership phase, the companies will collaborate on the delivery and integration of Rockwell Automation software and solutions by HCL's Manufacturing Solution Experts.
• Cognizant and SAP AG today announced a global services partnership in an effort to deliver increased business value by streamlining their engagement and enabling both companies to respond quickly to the ever-changing needs of their customers
• Wipro and SmartOps Corporation, the leading provider of enterprise-class supply chain optimization solutions, announced the launch of their holistic Multi-echelon Inventory Planning & Optimization offering
• Wipro announced that it has signed a $34 million information technology services deal with U.S.-based refiner Sunoco Inc
• Wipro Infotech becomes the first 'Platinum Partner' from India for Hitachi Data Systems. This alliance will help enterprise customers across verticals avail of the wide range of services, consultation and storage solutions
• Patni announced that it was named the 2009 ‘IT Supplier of the Year’ by Weyerhaeuser, a leading provider of integrated forest products