MARKET PREVIEW: Techs on Fed watch

The day of interest rate reckoning has arrived, but techs aren't likely to wait around with a deal like MCI Worldcom and Sprint on their hands. Asia was up, Europe was mixed, and the Dow is set to open slightly lower.

U.S.

MCI WorldCom Inc. (Nasdaq: WCOM)'s agreement to buy Sprint Corp. (NYSE: FON) for $115 billion in stock is the largest takeover in history. According to Tuesday's Wall Street Journal, the telecommunications company sweetened its bid to fend off BellSouth Corp (NYSE: BLS).

Now that most economists expect Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan and his colleagues to leave interest rates alone, Tuesday's meeting could be somewhat tame. Jittery techs could get some mileage out of the announcement of the news, expected this afternoon.

Stocks which may be active Tuesday: Iomega Corp. (NYSE: IOM), Apple Computer (Nasdaq: AAPL), Micron Electronics (NYSE: MU), AOL Inc. (NYSE: AOL) and Sprint Corp. (NYSE: FON)

Telecom stocks led Wall Street higher Monday. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index rose 59.12 to 2795.97, the S&P 500 gained 21.24 to 1304.05, and Inter@ctive Week's @100 Index advanced 103.39 to 5,027.97. The Dow Jones Industrial Average moved up 128.23 to 10401.23.

At the Bell

The Dow Jones industrial average may open about 9 points lower. The Standard & Poor's 500 index for June futures contracts was down 1.2 points to 1317 at 7:59 a.m. EST in 24-hour electronic trading.

The Inter@ctive Week @Net Index was up 4 to 327.62.

Asia

Trading in Asia was on an upswing. The Nikkei 225 rose 0.12 percent to 17,784, Singapore's Strait Times index gained 1.32 percent to 1,065 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng was up 0.96 percent to 12,999.

Europe

European markets were mixed. London's FTSE 100 rose 0.38 percent to 6,076. The CAC 40 in Paris sank 1.05 percent to 4,652 and the Xetra DAX in Frankfurt was up 1.08 percent to 5,275 at 7:10 a.m. EST.

Reuters contributed to this report.