Preopen Trading: Tech Selloff, Gore's Fight Weaken Futures
There's something happening here, but what it is ain't exactly clear.
Markets took their cue from
Buffalo Springfield
this morning, trading close to flat with signs of negativity. Basically, the smoke's still there on the water after Monday's late-day selloff in technology and
Al Gore's
announcement last night that he will continue to fight for Florida's electoral vote, despite the fact that Florida's secretary of state, a Republican, certified the election results in favor of Republican candidate
George W. Bush
.
The intrigue continues and overseas markets didn't love it, weighed down by stumbles in technology following the precedent set in yesterday afternoon's trading in America. Futures were even, with the broader market again looking more secure than the tech-heavy
Nasdaq
.
S&P 500
futures on
Globex
, an electronic exchange where futures and options in a wide variety of indices and currencies trade, were off 3.7 to 1355.1, with a fair-value gain of 1 as calculated by
Prudential Securities
.
Nasdaq 100
futures on Globex were off 25.5 to 2771, with a fair-value loss of 7 as calculated by
TheStreet.com
.
Trading was very thin this morning on
Instinet
, where people can trade shares even when the New York market is closed. But what activity there was occurred in the chipmakers, which took a massive beating Monday. There's really not much of a tell on where chips will open yet, not from the trading. Much-maligned
Lucent
(LU)
last traded at $16.81, which is about 6 cents higher than where it closed yesterday. Blue-chipper
Intel
(INTC) - Get Report
was lower, trading at $43.63, 31 cents lower than its closing price Monday.
In Europe, markets were sour, like morning breath or a carton of milk in a dorm room fridge. London's
FTSE
, which was nearing midday, was off 65 to 6309. Paris'
CAC-40
dropped 58 to 6114, while Germany's
Xetra Dax
slipped 57 to 6639.
And Asian markets, well, Asian markets were weak again. Japan's
Nikkei 225
slid 62 to 14,659, while the Hong Kong
Hang Seng
dipped 37 to 14,566, with a negligible loss.
For Monday's postclose trading, see The Night Watch.