MARKET PREVIEW: Techs grasp at earnings

It's a sad day for techs when there are no IPOs on a Friday. Asian markets were mixed, Europe moved down, and the Dow is set to open slightly higher.

U.S.

Though a few earnings reports may offer techs some consolation, the Nasdaq looks likely to continue the week's trend Friday.

After several IPOs postponed their debuts Thursday, citing market conditions, the IPO slate was blank for Friday, traditionally the busiest day of the week for initial public offerings. Web consultant (Nasdaq: ZEFR), which had planned to price between $11 and $13 a share, postponed its debut.

Though there are no major tech earnings slated for Friday, the market will be digesting reports released after Thursday's bell. Sun Microsystems' (Nasdaq: SUNW) better-than-expected results, and Juniper's (Nasdaq: JNPR) report, which came with a stock-split, may inspire some tech upside. Ho-hum results from Gateway (NYSE GTW) may not cause much excitement.

On the economic front, analysts aren't expecting any inflation threats from the March consumer price numbers.

Expect the following technology stocks to be among Friday's most actively traded issues: Avanex, Dallas Semi, Gateway, Juniper Networks and Sun Microsystems.

An early rally in technology stocks fizzled in afternoon trading Thursday as the Nasdaq composite closed off another 93 points to 3,676.78. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 202 points to end at 10,923.55.

At the Bell

The Dow Jones industrial average may open about 23 points lower. The Standard & Poor's 500 index for June futures contracts was down 3 points to 1459 at 7:31 a.m. EST in 24-hour electronic trading.

The Inter@ctive Week @Net Index was down 19 to 478.84.

Asia

Trading in Asia was mixed. The Nikkei 225 fell 0.45 percent to 20,434, Singapore's Strait Times index gained 1.20 percent to 2,189 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng was down 1.28 percent to 16,142.

Europe

European markets were moving down. London's FTSE 100 fell 1.45 percent to 6,265. The CAC 40 in Paris dropped 0.99 percent to 6,202 and the Xetra DAX in Frankfurt was down 0.84 percent to 7,386 at 6:57 a.m. EST.

Reuters contributed to this report.