Off-Hours Trading: Stocks Look Weaker as Futures Below Fair Value

Stocks were expected to open weaker this morning as futures were pointing slightly lower.

The S&P 500 March contract was recently quoted up 4 points to 1353. With fair value measured at 6.67, the market looks to open with a weaker tone. The thinly traded Nasdaq 100 was recently up 3 to 3970.5.

Stocks recovered some yesterday after last Friday's absolute pasting. The Dow Jones Industrial Average improved in a roller-coaster session, but the Nasdaq Composite lagged behind.

Some degree of attention will be paid today when Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan makes the second of his semi-annual Humphrey-Hawkins appearances before Congress -- this time before the Senate Banking Committee.

But here's a tip (now don't tell anyone and ruin the surprise), but he's going to say the exact same thing that he said last week. Despite our hopes that the Fed chief might break into his song and give us a snappy rendition of Spinal Tap's "Gimme Some Money", we know that's unlikely

Looking ahead to today's action, several stocks could have a pretty busy session. Last night, Portal (PRSF Quote) and Neiman Marcus (NMG.A Quote) both reported better-than-expected earnings, while Visx (VISX Quote) announced it is cutting fees for its laser vision correction technology and has approved a 10-million-share stock buyback.

When the covers were pulled up and the lights were turned off last night, there was still no confirmation that Alcatel (ALA Quote) would announce an acquisition of Newbridge Networks (NN Quote). This morning, the deal is done, the papers are signed and, more than likely, the first glass of wine has been poured.

Last Night's After-Hours Trading

By Eric Gillin
Editorial Assistant

Visx (VISX Quote). It's no place you wanted to be.

The company, which makes systems for laser vision correction, fell 3 15/32 to 18 11/32 on 430,000 shares on Island ECN. A pair of announcements halted the stock until 5 p.m. EST. Visx announced that its board authorized a 10 million share buyback and that it would reduce its licensing fees to $100 from $250. The goodwill usually associated with a buyback plan never materialized upon the resumption of trading and Visx shares tumbled, gaining momentum and dropping heavily as the evening dragged on.

These losses added more to the company's day session drop of 1 3/8, or 5.9%, to 21 7/8.

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In a battle of the killer Beas, BEA Systems (BEAS Quote) turfed Golden Girl Bea Arthur en route to a late-night gain of 6 5/16 to 144 on 81,000 shares.

The actress formerly known as "Maude" never stood a chance after the B2B play announced pro forma fourth-quarter earnings of 9 cents a share, beating the 7-cent First Call/Thomson Financial estimate and last year's 2 cents. Along with earnings, BEA Systems announced a 2-for-1 stock split.

Tonight's upward move helps the company recover from a day session loss of 8 1/8, or 5.6%, to 137 7/8.

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Electric Fuel (EFCX Quote) eased after powering out a day session gain of 6 1/2, or 63.4%, to 16 3/4. It was last off 1/4 to 16 3/4 on 326,000 shares on Island.

The New York-based energizer leapt on news that a zinc-air battery system from its Israeli unit will be tested by both the Energy Department and the Israeli Ministry of National Infrastructures. The U.S. and Israeli governments will share information about the battery, which will be put in buses and tested in an urban environment.

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Well-rounded individuals need enlightenment along with postclose stock quotes, so here's that culture you ordered.

After the close, Elegant Illusions (EILL Quote) announced the acquisition of worldwide rights to Andrea Stella's work and received a decent pop on Island ECN, gaining 1/2 to 1 1/2 on 476,000 shares. Stella's work, which reflects a focus on post-Renaissance techniques like painting objects that look like the original objects, can be found in many Italian galleries, such as the Palazzo Pitti in Florence.

See? Culture is good.

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Generally speaking, Island's volume was fairly light, with the notable exception of the top eight most-active issues. News, large-caps and big movers were all scarce.

In large-cap news: Microsoft (MSFT Quote) was unchanged at 93 15/16 on 42,000 shares, while Oracle (ORCL Quote) eased 1/16 to 59 5/16 on 40,000 shares.

During the day, Microsoft was lower, while Oracle inched higher on news of the company's strategic alliance with Motorola (MOT Quote). Oracle will create a new unit called OracleMobile.com, which would allow customers to access the Internet via cellular technology.

10 most active stocks on Island ECN (8 p.m. EST)
Company	Price	Change	Session Volume
Pharmos (PARS Quote)	8 11/32	+1 1/32	1,066,564
Crown Resources (CRRS Quote)	1 7/32	+3/16	516,026
Elegant Illusions (EILL Quote)	1 1/2	+1/2	477,050
Counsel (CXSN Quote)	6 3/8	+1 3/8	472,302
Visx (VISX Quote)	18 11/32	-3 15/32	430,026
Electric Fuel (EFCX Quote)	16 3/4	-1/4	326,606
Einstein/Noah Bagel (ENBXC Quote)	35/64	+11/256	279,040
PharmaPrint (PPRT Quote)	2 31/32	+5/32	205,616
Copytele (COPY Quote)	2 1/2	0	161,106
Bikers Dream (BIKR Quote)	29/32	+1/32	112,138

Island ECN, owned by Datek Online, offers trading, mainly in Nasdaq-listed stocks, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. EST..

10 most active stocks on MarketXT (8 p.m. EST)
Company	Price	Change	Session Volume
Imaging Technologies (ITEC Quote)	1 3/8	-1/32	10,000
VISX (VISX Quote)	17 11/16	-4 1/4	4,400
SBC Communications (SBC Quote)	36 1/4	0	4,000
Yahoo! (YHOO Quote)	151 3/4	-2 1/16	4,000
Microsoft (MSFT Quote)	93 3/4	-1/16	3,200
Rite Aid (RAD Quote)	6 3/4	+1/16	3,000
Lucent (LU Quote)	53 3/16	+1/8	2,010
Intel (INTC Quote)	106 1/4	-1/2	1,650
Geoworks (GWRX Quote)	42	-7/16	1,600
Electric Fuel (EFCX Quote)	16 1/2	-1/4	1,500

MarketXT, formerly Eclipse Trading, offers after-hours trading to retail clients of Morgan Stanley Dean Witter's (MWD Quote) Morgan Stanley Dean Witter Online, Mellon Bank's (MEL Quote) Dreyfus Brokerage Services and clients of Salomon Smith Barney. It is also available to clients of Mydiscountbroker.com, CyBerCorp and Interactive Brokers. Clients can trade 200 of the most actively traded New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq Stock Market issues, 4:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. EST Monday through Thursday.

Confused? TheStreet.com explains how the rules change when the sun goes down in Investing Basics: Night Owl, a section devoted to after-hours trading.