MARKET PREVIEW: Intel casts pall on techs

Jan. 2, 2002 4:43 p.m. PT

2 min read

Techs may be in for another bruising Monday as the week kicks off with bad news from Intel. Asian markets were down, Europe was mixed, and the Dow is set to open slightly higher.

U.S.

Chip maker Intel (Nasdaq: INTC) said its first-quarter earnings will be revised downwards by a penny a share, and its sales by $28 million, due to a defective chip. The news, contained in an SEC filing, was reported just before the end of trading Friday.

Merger Monday was off to a busy start, with WebMethods Inc. (Nasdaq: WEBM) confirming a Wall Street Journal report it will buy Active Software Inc. (Nasdaq: ASWX) in a stock deal valued at $1.3 billion. Vignette (Nasdaq: VIGN) agreeing to buy OnDisplay (Nasdaq: ONDS) for about $1.7 billion.

Techs won't have many economic motivators this week; there are no major reports due until Thursday, when a revision in the first quarter gross domestic product is announced.

Earnings have also slowed to a trickle; Align-Rite (Nasdaq: MASK) and Caldera Systems (Nasdaq: CALD) are expected to report Monday.

Expect the following technology stocks to be among Monday's most actively traded issues: Brocade, drkoop.com, Intel, Performance Technologies, WebMethods and Yahoo!

Technology stocks closed out a forgettable week with another beating Friday as the Nasdaq composite shed 148 points to close at 3,390.61. The Dow was roughed up as well, falling 150 points to end at 10.626.85.

At the Bell

The Dow Jones industrial average may open about 16 points higher. The Standard & Poor's 500 index for June futures contracts was up 2.1 to 1417 at 7:31 a.m. EST in 24-hour electronic trading.

The Inter@ctive Week @Net Index was down 24 to 433.45.

Asia

Trading in Asia was on a downswing. The Nikkei 225 fell 2.80 to 16,386, Singapore's Strait Times index fell 3.14 percent to 1,929 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng was down 2.33 percent to 14,140.

Europe

European markets were mixed. London's FTSE 100 climbed 0.41 percent to 6,069. The CAC 40 in Paris slipped 0.60 percent to 6,159 and the Xetra DAX in Frankfurt was down 0.65 percent to 6,943 at 6:55 a.m. EST.

Reuters contributed to this report.