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MARKET PREVIEW: More profit warnings

2 min read

More profit warnings will greet investors after the long weekend Wednesday. Asian and European markets were mixed and the Dow is set to open lower.

U.S.

Investors may punish companies that tried to sneak in profit warnings over the holiday; Computer Associates International Inc. (NYSE: CA) warned Tuesday that it won't meet profit expectations for its fiscal first quarter, due to weak European sales and delays in closing contracts. Informix (Nasdaq: IFMX) warned early Monday of a second-quarter miss.

Sprint (NYSE: FON) will continue to be scrutinized as its merger with WorldCom (Nasdaq: WCOM) dissolves. The company is expected to walk away from the deal as early as this week, leaving it open for a possible bid from Deutsche Telecom, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.

Another economic report will also attract attention. May's leading economic indicators, a report from the Commerce Department that indicates the economy's direction, is expected to have slipped 0.2 percent in May after declining 0.1 percent in the previous month.

The broader markets may be affected by Saudi Arabia's announcement that it will boost oil output in by 500,000 barrels a day in order to bring prices down.

Expect the following technology stocks to be among Wednesday's most actively traded issues: ASM Lithography, Cisco and Computer Associates.

Some decent economic news sparked blue-chip stocks in holiday-shortened trading Monday as the Dow Jones industrial average closed up 113 points to 10,560.67. The Nasdaq composite edged up 25 points to close at 3,991.30.

At the Bell

The Dow Jones industrial average may open about 14 points higher. The Standard & Poor's 500 index for June futures contracts was up 2.0 to 1492 at 7:31 a.m. EST in 24-hour electronic trading.

The Inter@ctive Week @Net Index was up 6 to 500.96.

Asia

Trading in Asia was mixed. The Nikkei 225 fell 0.20 to 17,435, Singapore's Strait Times index rose 0.38 percent to 2,080 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng was up 1.47 percent to 16,474.

Europe

European markets were also moving in different directions. London's FTSE 100 fell 0.42 percent to 6,444. The CAC 40 in Paris gained 0.83 percent to 6,548 and the DAX in Frankfurt was up 1.84 percent to 7,072 at 6:57 a.m. EST.

Reuters contributed to this report.