Information Technology

The S&P 500 is a bellwether for the American economy, and with quarterly reports for more than half of the index's companies in this earnings season, S&P 500 firms are averaging a 4.5% positive earnings per share surprise, according to Capital IQ's Earnings This Week report.

With trillions of dollars sitting in corporate coffers, the spigots of capital flowing to technology are finally opening up again. Gartner Research projects 5.1% growth in information technology spending in 2011. So which companies' stocks should you buy to take advantage?

Tech layoffs came to just under 47,000 last year, according to employment-services firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas. Better still, during the next 10 years, the sector is forecast to have one of the fastest paces of job creation of any industry.

The outlook for IT spending this year is looking up. Research firm Gartner said Thursday it expects revenue to grow 5.1% from 2010, an increase from a previous forecast of 3.5% growth.

Hewlett-Packard has won a contract worth up to $2.5 billion to supply computer equipment -- including hardware and software -- and information-technology services to NASA. HP's gain is Lockheed Martin's loss: Lockheed had been NASA's IT supplier until now.

The U.S. is hardly alone in losing work to cheaper skilled labor in foreign countries. Australia, Canada and Israel, among others, have dropped off Gartner's list of the top 30 countries for outsourcing. Here's where IT and business-processing jobs are heading.

Oracle, one of the world's biggest software companies, on Thursday posted fiscal second-quarter earnings that grew 28% year over year. It's the latest sign that companies are spending more on technology.

Companies have record amounts of cash to spend: $1.9 trillion. How can they put it to the best use to keep stock markets booming?

Something unusual is happening in the ever-exciting world of technology: The glamorous high techs that elicited immense awe as global growth leaders are now in the new proletariat class of attractive dividend plays. Here are nine dividend-paying high techs.

Despite the pounding Cisco took after recently lowering its guidance, many analysts still rate the stock a buy. Says one: It dominance is "so compelling, that you can surely expect to be amply rewarded."