MARKET PREVIEW: Techs to loiter again

Techs should hang back Monday as they await the day of interest rate reckoning. Asia and Europe were up, and the Dow is set to open higher.

U.S.

Trading revolves around the economy again this week, as investors eye the Federal Open Market Committee meeting in Washington on Tuesday. Contradictory data about the rate of growth of the economy and inflationary pressure has left some room for hope the Fed won't raise interest rates. But a 25 basis point-hike has been the consensus on Wall Street for the past few turbulent weeks, making it likely that the market has already discounted the rate hike.

Investors also await economic reports later in the week, including data Wednesday on July's durable goods orders and a report on the second-quarter gross domestic product due Thursday.

The yen also continued to make economic headlines, as Japanese officials renewed threats to curb its rise Monday. The yen gained ground again Monday, as the dollar slipped to 110.65 yen in late afternoon trading, down about three-quarters of a yen from late on Friday in New York and its lowest since January 12.

Expect the following technology stocks to be among Monday's most actively traded issues: America Online Inc. (NYSE: AOL), Iomega Corp. (NYSE: IOM), PSINet Inc. (Nasdaq: PSIX) and Sun Microsystems Inc. (Nasdaq: SUNW).

The Dow Jones industrial average closed up 137 points to 11,100.61 Friday thanks in part to the "double-witching" expiration of stock options and futures. The Nasdaq ended up 27 points to close at 2,648.30.

At the Bell

The Dow Jones industrial average may open about 36 points higher. The Standard & Poor's 500 index for June futures contracts was up 4.3 points to 1345 at 7:25 a.m. EST in 24-hour electronic trading.

The Inter@ctive Week @Net Index rose 6.45 to 286.95.

Asia

Trading in Asia was moving up. The Nikkei 225 rose 0.75 percent to 18,234, Singapore's Strait Times index gained 1.75 percent to 2,124 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng put on 0.05 percent to 13,574.

Europe

European markets were also on an upswing. London's FTSE 100 added 1.45 percent to 6,270. The CAC 40 in Paris slipped 0.55 percent to 4,497 and the Xetra DAX in Frankfurt was up 0.82 percent to 5,298 at 6:50 a.m. EST.

Reuters contributed to this report.