Morning Money Memo:

Big blues at Big Blue. After reporting disappointing sales and earnings, some painful choices are ahead for the once-invincible IBM. Its new quarterly report led to a 7 percent drop for IBM's share price Monday, plus a smaller decline overnight. CEO Virginia Rometty calls the results "disappointing" and told analysts that "we are reinventing and we are managing this company for the long term." Rometty spoke of "unprecedented change" in the tech industry. IBM reported a 15 percent drop in hardware from last year and it's trying to steer its business toward cloud computing and social-mobile services. "The company's revenue hasn't grown in years," writes Andrew Ross Sorkin in The New York Times. "IBM's revenue has fallen or been flat for ten consecutive quarters."

One huge tech company is staying on top of change. Apple's shares rose more than 2 percent after its quarterly numbers again came in better than Wall Street analysts were looking for. Apple sold a huge number of iPhones in the third quarter, more than 39 million or 16 percent above last year's rate. The rise came as the company launched the iPhone 6 and larger screen 6 Plus. The one disappointment for Apple is tablets, with iPad sales falling 16 percent compared with last year. The company's profits were better than expected: up 12 percent.

The head of a banking industry lobbying and advocacy group says half of U.S. adults have had their personal data exposed in the past year. The FBI compares data breaches to bank robberies someone can commit from home. "Our companies and essentially many others are in a nonstop daily battle against hackers," says former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, president and CEO of the Financial Services Roundtable. He says the problem of data theft is "profoundly accelerating."

Staples is looking into a potential credit card data breach and says it has been in touch with law enforcement officials about the issue. The office supplier retailer says if it turns up any data discrepancies during its investigation, customers won't be responsible for fraudulent activity on their credit cards as long as it is reported in a timely manner. "We take the protection of customer information very seriously, and are working to resolve the situation" company spokesman Mark Cautela said in a statement.

Will the stock market post three straight days of gains after recent losses? Futures rose this morning after gains for stock averages Monday. Analysts say positive corporate quarterly reports and better-than-expected growth numbers from China are behind the latest lift.

Richard Davies Business Correspondent ABC News Radio abcnews.com Twitter: daviesnow