MARKET PREVIEW: Earnings weigh on techs

Poor results and reduced outlooks from a number of tech companies could hurt U.S. markets on Friday. Markets in Asia and Europe lost ground and the Dow set to open lower.

U.S.

Bad news from a number of techs will be front and center in today's session. Sweden's Ericsson (NYSE: ERICY) said Friday that it missed fourth quarter targets and was getting out of the mobile phone business.

Among techs reporting after yesterday's market close, telecom equipment maker JDS Uniphase (Nasdaq: JDSU) and chip-maker PMC-Sierra (Nasdaq: PMCS) beat expectations for their respective quarters, but both lowered guidance for the current quarter and fiscal year.

According to the Wall Street Journal, telecom service provider WorldCom (Nasdaq: WCOM) plans to cut its workforce by 10 percent to 15 percent, as part of a broad restructuring to improve the company's financial health.

Fed Chairman Greenspan said that there is significant room for tax reductions in the coming decade, reversing his former position. In a Senate hearing, the Fed Chairman also said that short-term economic growth will probably be "close to zero".

On the economic front, the Durable Goods orders for December will be released before the opening bell. According to survey of economists by Briefing.com, orders are expected to drop 1.5 percent after a 2.5 percent rise in November.

Expect the following technology stocks to be among Friday's most "http:="" www.zdii.com="" industry_list.asp?mode="news&doc_id=ZE507346&pic=Y"" rel="">actively traded issues: BroadVision (Nasdaq: BVSN), JDS Uniphase (Nasdaq: JDSU), PMC-Sierra (Nasdaq: PMCS), Qualcomm (Nasdaq: QCOM).

The Nasdaq posted a triple-digit loss Thursday, dropping 104.87 to 2,754.28, while the Dow Jones industrial average moved up 82.55 to 10,729.52.

At the Bell

The Dow Jones industrial average is expected to open down 50 points. The Standard & Poor's 500 futures index fell 6.3 to 1358.20 at 7:32 a.m. EST in 24-hour electronic trading.

The Inter@ctive Week @Net Index fell 18 to 320.99.

Asia

The Nikkei 225 lost 107.32 to 13,696.06 while Singapore's Strait Times shed 8.31 to 1905.89. Hong Kong's Hang Seng remained closed for the Chinese New Year holiday.

Europe

European markets were also trading lower. London's FTSE 100 slipped 24.30 to 6,231.30, the CAC 40 in Paris lost 57.36 to 5,877.32 and the DAX in Frankfurt was off 59.99 to 6,667.50 at 7:19 a.m. EST.

Reuters contributed to this report.