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MARKET PREVIEW: Techs eye Apple

A day after posting its biggest one-day point and percentage gain, the Nasdaq could be poised to slip as Apple Computer said it would miss first quarter estimates. Asian and European markets were all up, and the Dow is set to open lower.

U.S.

After the bell Tuesday, Apple Computer (Nasdaq: AAPL) said it would miss its first quarter numbers, with a sharp drop in sales and a net loss for the period, the company's first quarterly loss in three years. The company also cut its full year revenue forecast for fiscal 2001. The company blamed the expected loss on the revenue shortfall and charges for cancelled orders of components. Shares of Apple continued to slide before the bell Wednesday.

The warning adds to the troubles of the PC sector, hit hard last week on bad news from Gateway (NYSE: GTW).

The Wall Street Journal reported that AT&T Broadband (NYSE: T) is selling off some of its cable-TV systems worth at least $3 billion in a move to conserve cash and boost share value.

Celestica Inc. (NYSE: CLS) and Motorola, Inc. (NYSE: MOT) announced an electronics manufacturing services (EMS) deal with an estimated value of more than $1 billion over a three-year period.

Expect the following technology stocks to be among Wednesday most "="" http:="" www.zdii.com="" industry_list.asp?mode="news&doc_id=ZE506754&pic=Y"" rel="">actively traded issues: Advanced Fibre Communications (Nasdaq: AFCI), Comverse Technology (Nasdaq: CMVT), Integrated Silicon Solutions (Nasdaq: ISSI), Apple Computer (Nasdaq: AAPL).

The Nasdaq closed Tuesday's session up 274.05 to 2,889.80. The Dow Jones industrial average soared 338.62 to 10,898.72.

At the Bell

The Dow Jones industrial average is expected to open down 17.5 points. The Standard & Poor's 500 index for December futures contracts slipped 2.2 to 1372 at 7:19 a.m. EST in 24-hour electronic trading.

The Inter@ctive Week @Net Index gained 44 to 368.49.

Asia

The major Asian markets gained ground. Hong Kong's Hang Seng soared 525.74 to 15,098.95. The Nikkei 225 rose 194.32 to 14,889.37 and Singapore's Strait Times moved up 21.22 to 1,974.83.

Europe

European markets were positive as well. London's FTSE 100 was up 1.9 to 6,300.90, the CAC 40 in Paris rose 25.08 to 6,019.97 and the DAX in Frankfurt gained 37.96 to 6,675.05 at 7:13 a.m. EST.

Reuters contributed to this report.