MARKET PREVIEW: Techs eye economic news

Techs will look to economic news Friday as they continue to digest a strong round of earnings reports. Asian markets were down, Europe moved up, and the Dow is set to open lower.

U.S.

A long line up of economic news may keep techs busy Friday, as they speculate on what next month's Federal Reserve meeting may bring.

The Producer Price Index, which measures wholesale prices, is expected to have gained 0.6 percent in June, driven greatly by rising energy costs. The index was essentially unchanged in May.

The "core" PPI, which excludes often volatile food and energy prices, is seen having risen 0.1 percent, less than the 0.2 percent gain in May.

A report on retail sales is forecast to have risen 0.3 percent in June, after a 0.3 percent decline in May.

Finally, industrial production is forecast to have risen 0.3 percent in June, down from the 0.4 percent gain in May, while capacity utilization is expected to have reached 82.1 percent in June, the same as the May rate.

On the IPO front, OmniVision Technologies (Nasdaq: OVTI), a maker of single chip image sensors for digital cameras, priced 5 million shares at $13, above its $9-$11 range.

Expect the following technology stocks to be among Friday's most actively traded issues: Elantec, Gadzoox, Gateway, Juniper Networks and Webvan..

Strong earnings from leading technology companies pushed the Nasdaq composite up 75 points to 4,174.85 Thursday. The Dow Jones industrial average inched up 5 points to finish at 10,788.71.

At the Bell

The Dow Jones industrial average may open about 14 points higher. The Standard & Poor's 500 index for June futures contracts was up 2.0 to 1511 at 7:41 a.m. EST in 24-hour electronic trading.

The Inter@ctive Week @Net Index was up 22 to 526.77.

Asia

Trading in Asia was moving down. The Nikkei 225 rose 0.62 to 17,142, Singapore's Strait Times index fell 0.25 percent to 2,079 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng was down 0.78 percent to 17,586.

Europe

European markets were moving up. London's FTSE 100 rose 0.27 percent to 6,492. The CAC 40 in Paris gained 0.52 percent to 6,570 and the DAX in Frankfurt was up 1.79 percent to 7,319 at 6:57 a.m. EST.

Reuters contributed to this report.