MARKET PREVIEW: Earnings parade kicks off

After an extended weekend, U.S. markets are set for the first wave of a barrage of corporate earnings reports Tuesday. The major Asian markets were mixed while those in Europe traded down. The Dow is set to open lower.

U.S.

Corporate earnings will take the tech spotlight today, with a host of companies reporting results after today's closing bell. Leading the parade is chip giant Intel (Nasdaq: INTC), which earlier warned that it will miss analysts’ sales estimates in its fourth quarter. First Call estimates call for a profit of 38 cents a share for the company.

Intel made news Monday when the company announced it will buy network adapter and modem maker Xircom (Nasdaq: XIRC) for $748 million. Intel will make a $25 a share tender offer for all of Xircom's stock within 10 days.

Other tech companies scheduled to report today include Applied Micro Circuits (Nasdaq: AMCC), Juniper Networks (Nasdaq: JNPR) and Novellus (Nasdaq: NVLS).

Telecom equipment maker Nokia (NYSE: NOK) and U.S. Tess Communications inked a deal under which Nokia will supply its broadband technology for Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) services in the Western U.S. Terms were not disclosed.

Expect the following technology stocks to be among Tuesday's most "http:="" www.zdii.com="" industry_list.asp?mode="news&doc_id=ZE507195&pic=Y"" rel="">actively traded issues: 3Com Corp. (Nasdaq: COMS), Click2learn.com (Nasdaq: CLKS) and EMusic.com (Nasdaq: EMUS).

After a positive week, the Nasdaq slipped on Friday, down 14.07 to 2,626.50, while the Dow Jones industrial average dropped 84,17 to 10,525.38.

At the Bell

The Dow Jones industrial average is expected to open down 25 points. The Standard & Poor's 500 futures index slipped 3.2 to 1327.10, below fair value, at 7:22 a.m. EST in 24-hour electronic trading.

The Inter@ctive Week @Net Index shed 3 to 299.91.

Asia

The major Asian markets were mixed. The Nikkei 225 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng both gained ground, rising 78.22 to 13584.45 and 69.39 to 15363.15, respectively. Singapore's Strait Times slipped 13.42 to 1916.02.

Europe

European markets were losing ground across the board. London's FTSE 100 dropped 75.60 to 6,094.70, the CAC 40 in Paris was off 60.63 to 5,772.75 and the DAX in Frankfurt lost 60.82 to 6,462.05 at 7:13 a.m. EST.

Reuters contributed to this report.