``Softness in Europe could be happening sooner than people think,''

``Softness in Europe could be happening sooner than people think,'' said Shaw Wu, an analyst with American Technology Research in San Francisco.
Cisco, based in San Jose, California, fell $2.06 to $21.02 in late trading. If that decline is repeated today, it would be the biggest drop since the day after Cisco's last quarterly results in November, when the stock fell the most in more than three years. Other networking-equipment makers, including Juniper Networks Inc. and JDS Uniphase Corp., also declined yesterday in extended trading.
U.S. and Europe
U.S. orders grew 12 percent, compared with 13 percent in the previous period, Chambers said. European orders slowed to 8 percent from 20 percent as telephone companies cut spending.
``That's good, but that's not great,'' Chambers said in an interview. ``If you add the U.S. and Europe together, that's 70 percent of my business.''
Slower sales in Europe sparked concern that a U.S. slump will cross the Atlantic. Investors had counted on international revenue to prop up domestic orders.
It's hard to tell if the economy will have a ``soft landing,'' Chambers said. ``I don't think anybody really knows, including the key economists.''