IBM offered an upbeat report on its PC business.

International Business Machines surprised Wall Street analysts with the unusually candid and upbeat report that its personal computer business is headed for record sales in 1987. At a special briefing held for securities analysts at its New York offices, IBM moved quickly to dispel reports that its new Personal System/2 line of personal computers had met with a lukewarm reception from customers. In a rare departure from its policy of not commenting in detail on product shipments, IBM said demand for the new PCs had been strong “across the board” and it had delivered 250,000 of the machines in the 2 1/2 months since they were introduced.