MARKET PREVIEW: Wall Street looks to 2001
U.S.
According to a Wall Street Journal report, federal regulators will hold off on ruling on the proposed merger between America Online (NYSE: AOL) and Time Warner (NYSE: TWX) until the new year.
Federal Communications Commission officials received staff recommendations only two weeks ago and did not have enough time to properly assess the proposal in its current from, the report said. The deal had been rumored to be on track for approval by the end of 2000.
IBM (NYSE: IBM) may see some movement this morning. Prudential Securities has lowered its fourth quarter revenue estimate on Big Blue, cutting the target from $25.3 billion to $24.5 billion.
More economic will be released Thursday, including the report on November existing home sales and the December measure of consumer confidence from The Conference Board.
Expect the following technology stocks to be among Thursday’s most "http:="" www.zdii.com="" industry_list.asp?mode="news&doc_id=ZE507017&pic=Y"" rel="">actively traded issues: i2 Technologies (Nasdaq: ITWO), Juno Online (Nasdaq: JWEB) and Sierra Wireless (Nasdaq: SWIR).
The Nasdaq gained 45.83 to 2,539.35 on Wednesday while the Dow Jones industrial average rose triple-digits, up 110.72 to 10,803.16.
At the Bell
The Dow Jones industrial average is expected to open down 65 points. The Standard & Poor's 500 futures index slipped 8.1 to 1342.40 at 7:29 a.m. EST in 24-hour electronic trading.
The Inter@ctive Week @Net Index rose 2 to 290.27.
Asia
The major Asian markets were mixed. The Nikkei 225 shed 34.53 to 13,946.96. Singapore's Strait Times and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng both gained ground, rising 7.93 to 1,900.53 and 48.19 to 14,796.55, respectively.
Europe
There was no clear direction in the European markets, as well. London's FTSE 100 slumped 0.08 to 6,217.40, the CAC 40 in Paris was up 39.66 to 5,896.81 and the DAX in Frankfurt gained 20.40 to 6,348.56 at 7:18 a.m. EST.
Reuters contributed to this report.