Stocks on Wall Street slumped as disappointing news from Cisco Systems hit technology stocks hard and dragged the broader market lower.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 73.94 points, or 0.6%, to 11,283.10 at the close (10am NZ time).

Cisco led the blue-chip index's decline, plunging 16% and erasing nearly two months of gains, after a weaker-than-expected sales forecast. Investors wiped as much as $US24 billion from the company's market value.

LinkedIn’s local office has acknowledged a sudden upsurge in email-borne attempts to dupe bank account log-ons and other details from its users.

The business networking site has 75 million members worldwide – 250,000 of whom are in New Zealand.

Networking company Cisco has circulated a security warning about the attack, saying:

Stocks on Wall Street finished higher as the telecommunications sector continued to steam ahead after Cisco Systems announced a new high-speed internet router.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 11.86 points, or 0.1%, at 10,564.38 after a volatile day's trading in which swung between gains and losses late in the session.

Its telecommunications components built on earlier gains after Cisco unveiled the new router, which the company says is 12 times faster than its rivals and will help alleviate congestion in mobile data networks.

New Zealand is only responsible for 0.06% of the world’s spam, statistics from Cisco’s annual security report for 2009 has revealed.

In contrast, Australia produces 0.74% of worldwide spam, which is relatively large for a country with a small population. Brazil produced 12.13% of spam in 2009, a huge increase of 7.08% on its 2008 result of 5.05%.

Word on the street is, Air France and KLM are thinking of ways to diversify their core business as the world becomes more connected through ultra-fast broadband.

Technology and communications giant Cisco informally mentioned its discussions with the airlines at a media briefing in Auckland on Tuesday. 

Developing a strong information network through an ultra-fast broadband connection will be essential to the future social, economic and environmental growth of Auckland, communications giant Cisco says.

Yesterday during a media briefing, Cisco discussed what the Super City will need to implement to ensure Auckland remains sustainable in the future and develops into a region of increased commerce not only in New Zealand but in the wider Asia Pacific community.