Intel (INTC) this morning filed with the SEC for a potential future securities offering. The shelf filing provides no specific information on any immediate plans to raise cash, and covers the potential sale of equity, debt, preferred shares, warrants and various other types of securities. I presume that the advantage of making a filing of this type is that it allows the company to move more quickly when it really does decide to raise capital.

I would also note that the filing includes two lengthy paragraphs about the risks from the current economic downturn. It makes for pretty grim reading.

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Sun Microsystems (JAVA) shares are coming under pressure this morning after Goldman Sachs analyst David Bailey cut his rating on the stock to Sell from Hold. He cut his target price to $3, from $5.

“Sun’s heavy concentration of financial services, telecom and manufacturing customers and overweight dependence on a secularly declining segment (UNIX servers) put Sun at a disadvantage during this downturn versus more diversified competitors,” he writes in a research note. He says most of this is in the stock–down 79 percent in 2008–but says that a 76 percent uptick in the stock since the beginning of December and a 30 percent move in just the past three days “creates a compelling entry point,” by which he means a chance to short the stock.

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Last night I reported on a special meeting held by Sequoia Capital for its portfolio companies, warning them about the fiscal hurricane that was going to hit them, and how they’d better figure out ways to survive what could be a big downturn.

There were some gaps in the details about that meeting, but I have since been able to piece together the minutes and what folks there essentially said. Since these are second-sourced details, I cannot say they are a 100 percent accurate, so please view them with a degree of skepticism. Nevertheless, I still feel confident enough to share them.

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Sorry to disappoint everyone, but the evidence is piling up today: The Internet really is a part of the overall economy. While the optimists had hoped that the efficiency of Internet-based advertising would make it a more appealing place to buy ads in a downturn, it is increasingly obvious that the current economic straits are too widespread for Internet businesses to avoid. Companies of almost every description are feeling the pain. They are cutting spending. And one of the things they are trimming is spending on is Internet advertising.

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