Friday June 15, 6:45 am Eastern Time
Eurostocks down, techs hit again by Microsoft talk
LONDON, June 15 (Reuters) - Mounting speculation about a profit warning from Microsoft, combined with a bleak earnings outlook from world No.2 microchip factory United Micro, slammed tech stocks again and weighed on European markets on Friday.
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At 1034 GMT the pan-European FTSE Eurotop 300 was down 0.8 percent and the DJ Euro Stoxx 50 down 1.05 percent, while the DJ Stoxx technology index sank 2.6 percent.
The mood was extremely jittery, after Dutch electronics firm Philips joined European peer STMicroelectronics and U.S. fibre-optics giant JDS Uniphase (NasdaqNM:JDSU - news) in warning about quarterly revenues.
Traders across Europe cited rumours that Microsoft (NasdaqNM:MSFT - news), the world's biggest software company, could be next in line to feel the chill from the chip slowdown and a possible extended slump in computer sales.
``I think there's about a 50-50 chance of it happening -- of course Microsoft is an obvious candidate for a warning,'' said one dealer in Paris.
``They normally go pre-market so we could hear something in the next half an hour,'' he added.
One London trader said: ``In these markets no-one is surprised by talk of profit warnings, it's just something that is going round and we've no confirmation of anything.''
Nasdaq futures were off five points as European markets approached the midsession mark. The latest bad news for stocks came from United Micro (NYSE:UMC - news), which said it expected to report a second quarter operating loss and saw revenues falling sequentially by 35 percent due to weak market conditions and a slowing economy.
Players cautioned that trade overall would be volatile, with markets in the U.S., Germany, Spain and Switzerland faced with today's ``triple witching'' expiry of index futures, index options and individual stock options.
The simultaneous expiry of June index futures and options on London's FTSE was also expected to lead to more volatility as some investors cover positions and others 'roll over' or take positions in the next contract month.
(with reporting by Sophy Tonder in Paris) |
