Hewlett-Packard yesterday warned that the technology spending slowdown in the US and Europe was spreading worldwide as it said its sales could miss already lowered forecasts.

Ms Carly Fiorina, Hewlett-Packard's chief executive, said her company was seeing the first signs of weakness in China and demand was softening through Latin America - both areas that boasted robust growth earlier in the year. Ms Fiorina, who earlier this year talked about seeing an end to the slowdown, yesterday told analysts that the global weakness could now continue into 2002.

The warning was one of the strongest indications to date that the US technology sector could not count on a second-half recovery predicted by many analysts just a few months ago.

The announcement also follows a warning from Sun Microsystems, which competes with Hewlett-Packard in the server market, that demand in Europe had suddenly "tailed off" through April and May.

All eyes will now be on Intel, the world's largest chip-maker, which is due to update investors on its current quarter today.

Separate data yesterday pointed to the first decline in US sales of personal computers occurring this year.