Within that category, real investment in computers and related equipment showed no growth in the first quarter of this year after having risen 30 percent or more in each of the seven years starting in 1994.
Outlays for communications equipment swung from growth rates of about 25 percent in 1999 and 2000 to an annual rate of decline of more than 30 percent in the first quarter of this year. The cutback in business spending on high-tech equipment has led, in turn, to sharp cutbacks in output at the firms that produce such equipment.