MARKET PREVIEW: Telecom earnings barrage

Investors will face a flood of earnings from the telecom sector, while mulling over disappointing Compaq earnings. Asian and European markets were mixed and the Dow is set to open slightly higher.

U.S.

Telecom earnings will rule the day Tuesday as reports from AT&T (NYSE: T), JDS Uniphase (Nasdaq: JDSU) and Lucent (NYSE: LU) report before the opening bell.

AT&T, which plans to break into four separately traded companies, said net losses were $366 million, or 10 cents a share, compared with profits of $1.74 billion, or 54 cents a share a year ago. Its wireless division, AT&T Wireless (NYSE: AWE) also reported results.

JDS Uniphase, a maker of fiber-optic gear used by telephone and Internet companies, already reported fiscal third-quarter earnings of 14 cents a share, matching estimates. But the company also warned about its fourth quarter and said it was moving some manufacturing to China and cutting 5,000 jobs.

Lucent, a phone equipment maker, also announced a second-quarter loss of 37 cents a share.

The markets will also absorb a couple disappointing reports from after last night's bell: Compaq Computer (NYSE: CPQ) missed its first-quarter earnings estimate by a penny, and warned that second-quarter results will also miss targets. Online service provider Excite@Home (Nasdaq: ATHM) also missed estimates by a penny.

Expect the following technology stocks to be among Tuesday's most actively traded issues: Compaq, FreeMarkets and Novellus Systems.

Technology stocks lost ground Monday after analysts downgraded a handful of leaders, sending the Nasdaq composite down 104 points to 2,059.39. The Dow Jones industrial average shaved off 48 points to finish at 10,532.16.

At the Bell

The Dow Jones industrial average may open 9 points higher. The Standard & Poor's 500 index for June futures contracts was up 1.00 points to 1227 at 7:15 a.m. EDT in 24-hour electronic trading.

The Inter@ctive Week @Net Index fell 2 to 207.53.

Asia

Trading in Asia was mixed. The Nikkei 225 rose 27.58 to 1,3743.18, Singapore's Strait Times index rose 1.24 to 1,686.14 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 36.89 to 1,3274.61.

Europe

European markets were also going in different directions. London's FTSE 100 fell 32.40 to 5,838.90, the CAC 40 in Paris rose 8.88 to 5,405.73 and the Xetra DAX in Frankfurt was up 40.66 to 6,092.14.

Reuters contributed to this report.