MARKET PREVIEW: Round 2 of earnings barrage

Earnings from Compaq and others will dominate the news this week as the Nasdaq struggles to hold its gains. Asian markets were mixed while Europe moved down, and the Dow is set to open lower.

U.S.

The week kicks off with another round of earnings. PC maker Compaq Computer (NYSE: CPQ) will be the big attention-getter after market close, with its earnings expected to have declined to 13 cents a share from 16 cents a year earlier.

Other companies expected to report after the close are online service provider Excite@Home (Nasdaq: ATHM) and Novellus Systems (Nasdaq: NVLS), the semiconductor-equipment maker.

Expect the following technology stocks to be among Monday's most actively traded issues: Compaq, Deutsche Telekom, Lexmark and Silicon Graphics.

Investors cashed out some profits Friday, pushing the Dow Jones industrial average down 114 points to 10,579.85, while the Nasdaq composite shed 19 points to close at 2,163.18.

At the Bell

The Dow Jones industrial average may open 53 points lower. The Standard & Poor's 500 index for June futures contracts was off 6.20 points to 1244.60 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 shed 50.07 to 13,715.60, Singapore's Strait Times index rose 28.71 to 1,684.90 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 136.63 to 13,311.50.

Europe

European markets were in the red. London's FTSE 100 fell 26.10 to 5,853.70 the CAC 40 in Paris shed 34.55 to 5,414.79 and the Xetra DAX in Frankfurt was down 47.29 to 6,080.68.

Reuters contributed to this report.