THE DAY AHEAD: Market Preview

Expect another lousy start for techs on Tuesday. Asia was mixed and Europe fell. The Dow is set to open unchanged.

U.S.

Barnesandnoble.com will need the luck of the Irish to pull its IPO off today. It's going to be ugly for technology-related shares early. Bn.com will probably still do fairly well, all things considered. If Bn.com has a lackluster open, it could be a good opportunity to invest in e-commerce. Barnes & Noble is a long-term player in the book market, has finally stepped up its online efforts and has Bertelsmann as an investor. There are worse ways to kick off a new venture.

Keep a close eye on your level 2 screen, if you have one. Every past downturn quickly became a buying opportunity and shares recovered nicely. This isn't likely with the big Web stock bubble bursting as many bears have been anticipating. This can get a lot uglier.

There'll be a bounce in the near-term because those that dabble with Net stocks are the same that buys Net IPOs and demand has hardly abated for even the flimsiest issue. Greed is a powerful motivator and day traders haven't lost their taste for huge gains just yet.

Adam.com, Barnesandnoble.com, E*Trade, Lycos, Net Perceptions and Novell are likely to be among Tuesday's stocks to watch.

On Monday, Internet stocks, living up to their reputation for volatility, led the entire technology sector lower. The Nasdaq composite plunged 67 points to 2,453.64 and the Dow Jones industrial average lost 175 points to close at 10,654.67.

The Inter@ctive Week @Net Index lost 16 to 296 on Monday.

At the Bell

The Dow Jones industrial average is set to open flat. The Standard & Poor's 500 index for June futures contracts dipped half a point to 1,312 at 7:33 a.m. EST in 24-hour electronic trading, are indicating a 17-point decline in the global bellwether.

Asia

Asia was mixed as computer-related issues were trounced after a drop in U.S. tech stocks on Monday. The Nikkei 225 in Tokyo lost 1.08 percent to 16,214, the Seoul composite in South Korea gained 0.44 percent to 698, Singapore's Strait Times index dropped 1.89 percent to 1,896 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng slipped 0.72 percent to 12,346.

Europe

European markets slid. London's FTSE 100 fell 1.78 percent to 6,209, the CAC 40 in Paris lost 1.11 percent to 4,350 and the Xetra DAX in Frankfurt fell 1.93 percent to 5,152 at 7:46 a.m. EST.