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Specifically, Cisco CEO John Chambers used the phrase “unusual uncertainty” in describing the economic environment.

But according to a Seeking Alpha transcript of the company’s earnings call, it seems he didn’t mean to instigate a stock sell-off in the tech sector:

So that would be how Id [answer] your question and not that we are making a call on the economy, the majority of my customers believe the economy, is just going to continue slowly growing up, but very slow and not what they would have said even in three months or four months ago in terms of their expectations and if Id have told them, Id say probably the average comes in about at 2% growth for second half of the year. It doesnt mean those customers are right, but it does mean thats whats on their mind in terms of their spending pattern. Did I answer your questions?

Were not making a call on the economy going down, I think that probability is on double-dip or whatever you want to call it are relatively low. Were not making a call in Cisco, other than we think were very bullish on Cisco and very comfortable with where we are positioned.

The big question driven by all this is, will companies including insurers cut their technology investments in light of troubling economic indicators? Cisco seems to think so in lowering its sales forecasts. I’m inclined to think not, at least in this industry, as nothing in the two months I’ve been at I&T has led me to believe that insurers would look at a slowdown and invest less in tools to increase efficiency and cut costs over the long term. In the health sector, insurers are even investing to help providers adopt new technologies (see our story about Humana).

I welcome your thoughts in comment or e-mail: ngolia@techweb.com.

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