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Strategies & Market Trends : VOLTAIRE'S PORCH-MODERATED -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Dealer who wrote (54637)	8/22/2002 8:21:29 AM
From: Dealer	Respond to of 65232

DJ US Stocks To Open Mixed; Microsoft Upgrade To Boost Tech By Lingling Wei Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--U.S. stock futures are indicating a hesitant start on Wall Street Thursday, but a rating upgrade on software giant Microsoft may give technology stocks another boost following the strong gain in the previous sesson. Futures contracts for the Dow Jones Industrial Average recently fell 3 points after gaining 5 points earlier, Nasdaq futures advanced 8.5 points, while Standard & Poor's 500 futures contracts dipped 0.3. Early Thursday Salomon Smith Barney upgraded Microsoft's shares to outperform from neutral and raised its price target to $59 from $56. Analyst Heather Bellini wrote that the company "will get an increasing percentage of Fortune 1000" information technology budgets over the next six months. Also, according to reports, Microsoft will announce Thursday its intention to offer MSN Internet access and content to users of Apple Computer's Mac OS X. Elsewhere, bank stocks are likely to come under pressure. Moody's Investors Service said late Wednesday it may cut J.P. Morgan Chase's debt rating on "concern about J.P. Morgan's current and prospective profitability, as well as earnings volatility relative to other major banks." Barnes & Noble and Borders Group report earnings Thursday after having warned already they aren't going to be as strong as originally expected. On Wednesday, investors pushed the Nasdaq Composite Index up 2.4% to 1409.25, its first close above 1400 since July 8. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, which had been outgaining the Nasdaq in recent weeks, turned in a weaker gain and failed to clear 9000, a level it hasn't seen since July 9. It ended the day at 8957.23. European bourses are showing support in midday trading. London's FTSE 100 rose 1.1%, Paris' CAC-40 jumped 1.8% and Frankfurt's Xetra Dax gained 0.9%. Overnight in Asia, Japan's Nikkei 225 Stock Average rose 1.7% to 9814.02. Hong Kong's blue-chip Hang Seng Index ended up 0.2% at 10424.00. The following companies are among those tentatively scheduled to report their quarterly earnings on Thursday: Mean: ADC Telecom (ADCT) 3Q (.06) Barnes & Noble (BKS) 2Q .10 Borders Group (BGP) 2Q .03 Ciena Corp. (CIEN) 3Q (.19) Claire's Stores (CLE) 2Q .25 Foot Locker (Z) 2Q .22 Limited Brands (LTD) 2Q .12 Marvell Technology (MRVL) 2Q .09 Men's Wearhouse (MW) 2Q .20 Smithfield Foods Inc. (SFD) 1Q .15 TiVo Inc. (TIVO) 2Q (.21) Wet Seal (WTSLA) 2Q .13 Williams-Sonoma (WSM) 2Q .08 Zygo Corp. (ZIGO) 4Q (.17)