NEW YORK, March 29 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks were expected to open mixed with techs rebounding on Wednesday after OPEC oil ministers agreed to increase supplies, but not as much as the United States had pressed for.
A Federal Reserve official also noted that the move may not impact U.S. interest rates despite Wall Street hopes that lower prices would ease Chairman Alan Greenspan's inflation concerns.
``The real thing here is OPEC,' said Peter Cardillo, director of research at Westfalia Investments. ``We're headed for a mixed opening. I wouldn't be surprised to see the markets head a bit lower at the opening but then reverse later in the session.'
``OPEC takes the pressure off the Fed to raise interest rates by 50 basis points but we'll still see 25,' Cardillo said.
The Standard & Poor's 500 futures index for June rose 2.40 points to 1,532.60 while the Nasdaq futures index for June climbed 11.45 points to 4,673.95.
Technology stocks may rebound on the back of a surge in Japanese names after the country posted a larger-than-expected rise in industrial production, pushing the Nikkei to a 40-month high and pulling the euro down to record lows against the yen.
On Tuesday, the Nasdaq composite (^IXIC - news) dropped 124.56 points, or 2.51 percent, to 4,834.00 after Goldman Sach's influential analyst Abby Joseph Cohen suggested moving some money out of stocks and holding cash.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 89.74 points, or 0.81 percent, to 10,936.11 and the Standard & Poor's 500 stock index
(^SPX - news) declined 16.13 points, or 1.06 percent, to 1,507.73.
The 30-year U.S. Treasury bond ended unchanged, with the yield at 5.98 percent.
Oil prices dropped overseas with Brent crude futures below the key $25 a barrel level as selling set in after OPEC's deal to hike oil output starting in April. The May Brent contract dipped to its lowest level since the beginning of February.
On Tuesday, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries agreed to boost oil production despite resistance from Iran, OPEC's second biggest producer. Oil ministers decided to raise output by 1.45 million barrels a day, below the 2.5 million that U.S. officials had hoped.
San Francisco Fed President Robert Parry welcomed the OPEC decision but warned it was too early to say whether it would have an impact on U.S. interest rates.
Wall Street will also be looking at data on new home sales in February expected at 10 a.m. EST (1500 GMT). Market watchers said they are more concerned with the gross domestic product figures for the fourth quarter due on Thursday.
``There's not much of importance on the economic calendar, although a surprise in new home sales could lead to some reaction this morning,' said Bill Meehan, chief market analyst at Cantor Fitzgerald.
In corporate news, AT&T (NYSE:T - news), the No. 1 U.S. long-distance telephone company, said it planned to sell 360 million shares of a tracking stock representing its wireless voice and data operations. AT&T stock fell 1-7/16 to 58-15/16 on Tuesday.
Analog Devices (NYSE:ADI - news), a maker of computer chips that transform sound and video into digital data, expects revenues to grow in excess of 50 percent during 2000, its chief executive said, revising upward pervious growth targets.
The stock lost 6-1/2 to close at 81-1/2 on Tuesday.
Newly public Palm Computing Inc (NasdaqNM:PALM - news), maker of the No. 1 selling handheld electronic organizer, posted third-quarter operating results late Tuesday that topped forecasts as sales more than doubled.
Shares of the 3Com Corp (NasdaqNM:COMS - news) spinoff closed Tuesday at 54-13/16 while 3Com stock ended at 67-5/8. |
