As analysts vie to predict either doom and decimation, or market correction and canny stock buys, Wall Street is increasingly looking like a tale of two markets, with some technology stocks maintaining comparative highs, while the finance sector is seemingly destined to plumb the depths of the post sub-prime market, even as news sinks in of massive fraud at French bank Societe Generale to the tune of some $7 billion. This is a disaster for a sector already rocked on both sides of the Atlantic. In the UK, meanwhile, a US-style interest rate cut seems unlikely with a cautious Bank of England determined to keep inflationary pressures out of the economy, especially as fuel bills hit record levels.

Nevertheless, there is hope of riding out the downturn for some companies that play in the outsourcing market.

Although still relatively few companies have reported Q4 or Q1 earnings, many are due, and technology stocks are doing well enough overall to offer some comfort to investors. That said, at the higher end of the more consumer-oriented technology market, companies like Apple have reported strong quarters while predicting trouble ahead for their luxury buys. Healthcare, a key market for outsourcing providers, is expected to be the only other sector to experience double-digit year-on-year growth.

Gains at services and outsourcing mainstay IBM and chip giant Intel are a major impetus behind the technology sector overall, and AMD stocks were buoyed by the reported prospect of acquisition by IBM. However, there was bad news from Motorola, which announced a first quarter operating loss.

David Henshall, CFO of Citrix, had some more good news for the technology market: "We have closed out 2007 with a great fourth quarter completing another record year for Citrix demonstrating a strong demand and momentum throughout the business and continued execution against our strategy," he said. In total, we reported quarterly revenue of $400 million up 24% over Q4 ’06 and a total of $1.4 billion for the full year."

Analysts at Gartner and IDC released preliminary Q4 results that suggest Hewlett Packard led the worldwide PC market in 2007, with an 18.2% share, four points above Dell, which is good news for the overall health of this major services player. Indeed, it was not just the PC business that did well: HP showed an overall growth of 14% with net revenue of $104.3 billion in fiscal 2007. In 2008, it expects revenue to be approximately $111.5 billion.

Many of the major outsourcing and services giants are due to report in the next few days.