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MARKET PREVIEW: Yahoo drags on techs

A grim outlook from Internet portal Yahoo could drag techs down Thursday as the Nasdaq struggles to maintain recent gains. The major Asian markets lost ground while those in Europe traded higher. Early indicators have the Dow set to open lower.

U.S.

Yahoo! (Nasdaq: YHOO) met fourth quarter earnings expectations of 13 cents a share, but fourth quarter sales fell short of estimates.

But the company’s outlook was the real news. Yahoo officials told investors to expect sales of only $1.2 billion to $1.3 billion in fiscal 2001, below previous estimates of $1.42 billion. Shares of the Internet portal dropped 18 percent in after-hours trading.

Also reporting after yesterday’s close, Motorola (NYSE: MOT) met reduced analysts’ estimates for its fourth quarter.

Telecom company Lucent Technologies (NYSE: LU) inked a $15 million contract in China with Liaoning Telecom, a subsidiary of China Telecommunications Corp.

Expect the following technology stocks to be among Thursday’s most "http:="" www.zdii.com="" industry_list.asp?mode="news&doc_id=ZE507162&pic=Y"" rel="">actively traded issues: Macrovision (Nasdaq: MVSN), Rational Software (Nasdaq: RATL), Motorola (NYSE: MOT) and Yahoo! (Nasdaq: YHOO).

The Nasdaq closed Wednesday’s session up 82.88 to 2,524.18 while the Dow Jones industrial average rose 31.72 to 10,604.27.

At the Bell

The Dow Jones industrial average is expected to open down 44 points. The Standard & Poor's 500 futures index shed 5.5 to 1321.50, below fair value, at 7:09 a.m. EST in 24-hour electronic trading.

The Inter@ctive Week @Net Index rose 12 to 287.14.

Asia

The major Asian markets fell. The Nikkei 225 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng both posted triple-digit losses, falling 231.58 to 13,201.07 and 345.02 to 15,090.77, respectively. Singapore's Strait Times fell 54.89 to 1,915.02.

Europe

In Europe, the markets were in positive territory. London's FTSE 100 rose 26.60 to 6,086.50, the CAC 40 in Paris inched up 14.32 to 5,667.67 and the DAX in Frankfurt gained 61.31 to 6,381.38 at 7:09 a.m. EST.

Reuters contributed to this report.