Hewlett-Packard has posted a swingeing quarterly loss of $8.9bn after a gigantic writeoff of value of its services division, as it struggles to cope with falling revenues in other core areas including PCs and printing. Chief executive Meg Whitman warned that “we are still in the early stages of a turnaround” as she told analysts that it will be a long slog to return the Silicon Valley pioneer to growth. The company’s stock sank by 5% in after-hours trading. HP had indicated earlier in August that it would take an $8bn charge against the shrinking value of its 2008 acquisition of services company, Electronic Data Systems. Read the full story at The Guardian.