Alcatel slips back as investors get the jitters

NEWS Alcatel saw its stock slide nearly six per cent yesterday amid fears that it will announce losses and paint a bleak picture for the future in its end of year results. The results are due out today, but investor jitters had already been fuelled back in September when chief executive Serge Tchuruk said it would be challenging for the group to show a profit. According to a report in the Financial Times, poor results from rival telecoms equipment makers such as Nortel Networks have made the markets even more nervous.