Preopen Trading: Flat Futures Indicate Weak Open

Nortel Networks(NT Quote) was moving this morning on news from The Wall Street Journal that the company is in serious talks to sell its optical-parts unit to Corning(GLW Quote) in what could be a deal worth more than $100 billion.

The stock was getting a bid of 83, up 1 3/4, on Instinet.

Also, reports that VoiceStream Wireless(VSTR Quote) agreed to a $50.7 billion cash-and-stock takeover by Deutsche Telekom(DT Quote) were lifting VoiceStream 5 1/4 to 155 in preopen trading. Check out TheStreet.com/New York Times.com coverage.

Other movers this morning were Lucent(LU Quote), up 3/8 to 51 1/2 and JDS Uniphase(JDSU Quote), which was added to the S&P 500 last week, was down 5/16 to 134 1/2.

The S&P 500 futures on Globex lately were unchanged at 1489.5, about 3 points below fair value of 1492.5 as calculated by Prudential Securities for TheStreet.com. Nasdaq 100 futures were up 1.5 to 3940.5, or about 6 points below fair value as calculated by TSC.

Europe's major indices were mixed at midsession, with France's CAC 40 up 0.5%, Germany's Xetra Dax up 0.1%, but the U.K.'s FTSE 100 down 0.2% (see today's European Midday Update for more). Japan's Nikkei 225 fell 1.6% overnight, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng dropped 1.5% (see today's Asian Markets Update for more).

Elsewhere in preopen trading, Island had Immunex (IMNX Quote) trading at where it closed Friday at 57 3/4 on 2,000 shares.

Friday's After-Hours Trading

By Angela Privin
Staff Reporter

Online health site drkoop.com (KOOP Quote) rallied 54.5% after privately held MillenniumHealth Communications offered to buy it. The demure online doctor released a cool response to the overeager offer. It said that while it was considering the offer, Millennium's announcement of a transaction was "highly premature."

drkoop received a nonbinding letter of intent from MillenniumHealth, an Internet health-care information company, after news of the offer had already been made public Friday morning, reported Reuters. TheStreet.com/NYTimes.com joint newsroom covered the news in a story this afternoon.

Investors flew the koop, pressuring the company 6 cents, or 3.9%, to 1.53.

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The only thing worse than being too popular is being too successful. Poor little fiber-optic component company JDS Uniphase (JDSU Quote) just can't seem to grow fast enough, according to analysts, who expect the company to post blowout results next week. It settled up 5% today and traded 1.31 higher to 136.12 in anticipation of fourth-quarter data.

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E-Stamp (ESTM Quote) has opened a world of postal possibilities to cyber junkies. The California company lets users download postage from their PCs. The only catch is that customers need to purchase software and hardware components to use the service. The popularity of this service may eventually lead to a crisis of unemployed postal workers, who apparently are more dangerous than the employed variety.

The company last night reported a net loss of $23.6 million, or 64 cents a share, compared with the 73-cent loss in the first quarter. Though the company beat consensus estimates that called for a loss of 66 cents, Deutsche Banc Alex. Brown downgraded the company today to market perform from buy. E-Stamp noted at the bottom of its press release that it will slash its staff by 25% to scrape together the cash to operate through 2001. The company sold off 14% today and then slid 407 cents, or 20%, to 1.59 tonight.

E-Stamp saw its most rapid growth in its shipping business unit, which doubled its revenue from the first quarter. The company announced a business strategy shift to focus on shipping, logistics and the Internet postage business, which it said is more lucrative than the consumer market. And just happens to be cheaper to address.

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FiNet(FNCM Quote) rallied 57 cents, or 7%, to 87 in early trading after Stonegate Securities initiated coverage with a buy rating. The fine young company brings us closer to the online mortgage experience by allowing businesses and customers to shop for Internet mortgage quotes and obtain loans from the company's bank.

Stonegate's upgrade was spurred by FiNet's recent decision to gear their business from the brutally competitive customer market to the more lucrative B2B side.

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Like a high-school girl weighing her prom date offers, U.S. wireless company VoiceStream Wireless (VSTR Quote) took the weekend to mull over Deutsche Telekom's (DT Quote) $50.4 billion offer to buy it. Some reports suggest that the decision could come as early as Sunday. Sizzling anticipation of a successful marriage pushed VoiceStream up 2.26, or 1.5%, to 152.01 on 56,500 Instinet shares.

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If love could be expressed in the form of cash money, investors showered this online lottery company with eLot(ELOT Quote) of affection. The you-gotta-be-in-it-to-win-it philosophy translated into the trading of the Connecticut-based company, which sells lottery tickets for the government over the Internet. Tonight's announcement that eLot sold its health-care communications division to Grinnell for $5 million in cash, with an additional $1 million to be paid in 90 days subject to closing adjustments, sent the company 6 cents, or 2.5%, higher to 2.50 on 12,500 Island shares.

10 most active stocks on Instinet (6:30 p.m. EDT)
Company	Price	Change	Session Volume
Ericsson (ERICY Quote)	19.75	-0.0625	226,450
JDS Uniphase (JDSU Quote)	136.25	+1.4375	209,750
Sun Microsystems (SUNW Quote)	104.265	+0.265	162,002
Microsoft (MSFT Quote)	72.484	+0.171	148,100
Cisco (CSCO Quote)	68.0625	-0.0625	132,080
Intel (INTC Quote)	138.328	+0.1406	131,600
WorldCom (WCOM Quote)	45.1875	+0.0625	78,800
Palm (PALM Quote)	38.50	+0.1875	75,200
priceline.com (PCLN Quote)	40.0625	0	72,581
Washington Mutual (WM Quote)	31.625	0	72,000

This information is provided by Instinet, a wholly owned subsidiary of Reuters (RTRSY Quote). For further information, please contact Instinet at www.instinet.com.

10 most active stocks on Island ECN (7:45 p.m. EDT)
Company	Price	Change	Session Volume
FiNet (FNCM Quote)	0.87	+0.575	203,325
JDS Uniphase (JDSU Quote)	136.125	+1.312	101,802
drkoop.com (KOOP Quote)	1.531	-0.062	63,511
Cisco ( CSCO Quote)	68.25	+0.125	27,260
Macromedia (MACR Quote)	79.4375	+0.375	22,842
E-Stamp (ESTM Quote)	1.59	-0.40	21,412
BroadVision (BVSN Quote)	41.8125	+0.562	21,135
Informix (IFMX Quote)	4.36	+0.162	19,520
SDL (SDLI Quote)	444.25	+1.937	17,957
Lam Research (LRCX Quote)	26.625	+0.375	15,542

Island ECN, owned by Datek Online, offers trading, mainly in Nasdaq-listed stocks, from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. EDT.

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.