MARKET PREVIEW: Techs look to AOL and Time Warner

America Online and Time Warner may help pull techs out of their slump Tuesday; the companies may open their cable lines to other ISP's after their proposed merger. Asian and European markets moved up, and the Dow is set to open slightly higher.

U.S.

America Online Inc. (NYSE: AOL) should take center stage again Tuesday after The Wall Street Journal reported that it and Time Warner Inc. (NYSE: TWX) will agree to open their cable television lines to other Internet service providers after their proposed merger. The move may pacify regulators who've been monitoring the deal.

AOL also got lots of attention Monday, as it announced deals with six wireless communications companies. Shares of AOL gained 1 to close at 60 5/8 Monday.

Tuesday's economic news includes The Conference Board's measure of consumer confidence. The index is expected to slip to 143.5 from 144.7.

On the IPO front, Niku (Nasdaq: NIKU) priced at $24, net.Genesis (Nasdaq: NTGX) priced at $18, and Avenue A (Nasdaq: AVEA) priced at $24 a share.

Expect the following technology stocks to be among Tuesday's most actively traded issues: AOL, adam.com, MediaOne, 724 Solutions, Solectron and Wind River Systems.

The Dow Jones industrial average rebounded from last week's pounding, surging up 177 points to 10,038.65 Monday. After an early free fall, technology stocks recovered some ground in late trading as the Nasdaq closed off 6 points to 4,577.79.

At the Bell

The Dow Jones industrial average may open about 42 points higher. The Standard & Poor's 500 index for June futures contracts was up 5.7 points to 1353 at 7:39 a.m. EST in 24-hour electronic trading.

The Inter@ctive Week @Net Index was down 6 to 612.53.

Asia

Asian markets were moving up. The Nikkei 225 rose 1.21 percent to 19,959, Singapore's Strait Times index edged up 0.09 percent to 2,120 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng was up 1.09 percent to 17,169.

Europe

European markets were also being bid higher. London's FTSE 100 rose 0.88 percent to 6,153. The CAC 40 in Paris gained 1.62 percent to 6,149 and the Xetra DAX in Frankfurt was up 0.89 percent to 7,654 at 7:11 a.m. EST.

Reuters contributed to this report.