MARKET PREVIEW: Can techs hold gains?

Techs may shy away from gains Wednesday after the Nasdaq made its second-largest leap in history Tuesday. Asian markets were mixed, European was up, and the Dow is set to open slightly lower.

U.S.

A couple deals could attract attention: Motorola Inc. (NYSE: MOT) announced a $30 billion, five-year outsourcing agreement with Flextronics International Ltd. (Nasdaq: FLEX), and said it will take a minority stake in the company.

Lucent (NYSE: LU) confirmed it will buy Chromatis Networks, a privately held optical networking company, in a $4.5 billion stock swap.

The antitrust saga drags on; Microsoft attorneys are due to file their response to the government's proposal to break the software giant in two. A ruling on the two-year-old case is expected by the end of the week.

Expect the following technology stocks to be among Wednesday's most actively traded issues: Fatbrain.com, 24/7 Media and Qualcomm.

Investors returned from the three-day weekend with buying on the brain Tuesday as the Nasdaq composite shot up 254 points to 3,459.35, its second-largest, one-day gain in history. The Dow Jones industrial average motored up 228 points to close at 10,527.13.

At the Bell

The Dow Jones industrial average may open about 29 points lower. The Standard & Poor's 500 index for June futures contracts was down 3.9 to 1423 at 7:35 a.m. EST in 24-hour electronic trading.

The Inter@ctive Week @Net Index was up 38 to 436.62.

Asia

Trading in Asia was mixed. The Nikkei 225 rose 0.64 to 16,332, Singapore's Strait Times index fell 0.23 percent to 1,795 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng was up 5.17 percent to 14,713.

Europe

European markets were moving up. London's FTSE 100 was up 0.07 percent to 6,363. The CAC 40 in Paris gained 0.80 percent to 6,376 and the DAX in Frankfurt was up 0.32 percent to 7,141 at 7:11 a.m. EST.

Reuters contributed to this report.