MARKET PREVIEW: Investors see no dips with their chips

Techs should definitely be chipper Tuesday as solid reports from semiconductor firms last night add to the anticipation for Intel and Motorola's earnings. Asia was mixed, Europe fell back, and the Dow is set to open slightly lower.

U.S.

There is no economic data or IPOs set for Tuesday, but who needs it with this kind of earnings activity.

Chips, chips everywhere. The world's largest PC chip manufacturer is scheduled to report earnings after market close today, as will Motorola (NYSE: MOT), the maker of PowerPC processors. They're just adding fuel to the semiconductor fire ignited by yesterday's earners. Novellus Systems (Nasdaq: NVLS), maker of chip making equipment, topped analysts' third quarter estimates by more than 17 percent Monday. Applied Micro Circuits (Nasdaq: AMCC), a manufacturer of chips for optical networks beat second quarter estimates and predicted a "strong" third quarter.

And that doesn't count yesterday's semiconductor revival featuring Hi/fn Inc. (Nasdaq: HIFN), which closed up 12 5/16 to 50 1/16, taking others such as PMC-Sierra Inc. (Nasdaq: PMCS) and Vitesse Semiconductor (Nasdaq: VTSS) with it. All three were hammered last week following Hi/fn's profit warning.

Stocks which may be active Tuesday include Novellus (Nasdaq: NVLS), Applied Micro Circuits (Nasdaq: AMCC), Modem Media Poppe Tyson (Nasdaq: MMPT), Intel (Nasdaq: NVLS), Motorola (NYSE: MOT), Exodus Communications Inc. (Nasdaq: EXDS) and Extreme Networks Inc. (Nasdaq: EXTR).

Call it the same old story for a sluggish Columbus Day market waiting for this week's barrage of earnings. Although some market indices gained ground Monday, rallies were concentrated in a very small handful of stocks. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index rose 29.39 to 2,915.96 and Inter@ctive Week's @100 Index advanced 27.47 to 5,193.98. The blue chip Dow Jones Industrial Average slid 1.58 to 10,648.18.

At the Bell

The Dow Jones industrial average may open about 32 points lower. The Standard & Poor's 500 index for June futures contracts was down 4 points to 1343 at 7:30 a.m. EST in 24-hour electronic trading.

The Inter@ctive Week @Net Index was up 5 to 355.48.

Asia

Trading in Asia was mixed. The Nikkei 225 rose 0.16 percent to 18,091, Singapore's Strait Times index gained 0.19 percent to 2,118 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng was down 1.80 percent to 12,759.

Europe

European markets were moving up. London's FTSE 100 sank 0.06 percent to 6,231. The CAC 40 in Paris lost 0.77 to 4,686 and the Xetra DAX in Frankfurt was down 0.44 percent to 5,391 at 7:00 a.m. EST.

Reuters contributed to this report.