U.S.
Texas Instruments (NYSE: TXN) will be in for a rough day of trading. Reporting after yesterday's market close, the semiconductor giant missed analysts’ estimates in its fourth quarter and lowered its estimates for the first quarter.
EMC Corp. (NYSE: EMC) reported earnings Tuesday that topped estimates by 2 cents. The maker of hardware and software for memory for mainframe computers saw profits rise 49 percent compared to the year ago quarter, while sales jumped 40 percent.
After market close, Compaq Computer (NYSE: CPQ) will lead the tech earnings parade. Yesterday, the tough PC environment caused Dell Computer (Nasdaq: DELL) to warn for its upcoming quarter.
Other techs reporting today included Fairchild Semiconductor (NYSE: FCS), Broadcom (Nasdaq: BRCM) and LSI Logic Corp. (NYSE: LSI).
Expect the following technology stocks to be among Friday's most "http:="" www.zdii.com="" industry_list.asp?mode="news&doc_id=ZE507291&pic=Y"">actively traded issues: Computer Associates (NYSE: CA), FreeMarkets (Nasdaq: FMKT), Texas Instruments (NYSE: TXN) and Vitesse Semiconductor (Nasdaq: VTSS).
The Nasdaq closed Monday's trading session down 12.47 to 2,757.91 while the Dow Jones industrial average slipped 9.35 to 10,578.24.
At the Bell
The Dow Jones industrial average is expected to open down 23 points. The Standard & Poor's 500 futures index lost 3 to 1,355.5 at 7:26 a.m. EST in 24-hour electronic trading.
The Inter@ctive Week @Net Index slipped 2 to 318.60.
Asia
The major Asian markets were mixed. Hong Kong's Hang Seng and the Nikkei 225 both lost ground, down 55.06 to 16,044.21 and 47.76 to 13,984.66, respectively. Singapore's Strait Times inched up 3.22 to 1,914.20.
Europe
European markets were trading lower. London's FTSE 100 lost 25.90 to 6,206.10, the CAC 40 in Paris dropped 73.12 to 5,809.64 and the DAX in Frankfurt shed 56.66 to 6,618.34 at 7:11 a.m. EST.
Reuters contributed to this report.