Weekend Report: International Action Answers No Questions for U.S.

Uncertain, thin trading was the rule in Europe while the U.S. and U.K. markets were closed for holidays.

Author:: John J. Edwards III
Publish date:: May 31, 1999 6:40 PM EDT

The financial world provided few clues this weekend to guide confused U.S. and U.K. traders when their holiday-shuttered markets reopen Tuesday.

In thin trading, the German

Dax

edged up 1.10 to 5069.83, while Paris'

CAC 40

hopped 36.25, or 0.8%, to 4351.29. Overnight, in follow-throughs from the U.S.' strong

Friday session, Japan's

Nikkei 225

jumped 138.97, or 0.9%, to 16,111.65 and Hong Kong's

Hang Seng

gained 87.87, or 0.7%, to 12,147.12.

All of which brings to mind

John Nance Garner's

dictum about the relative worth of the vice presidency and a bucket of warm spit. The U.S. markets won't trade off Monday's European and Asian market action. Instead they'll continue looking toward the week's key economic releases: the

National Association of Purchasing Management

index, coming Tuesday, and the May

employment report

, coming Friday.

Market players also will watch for any signs of a rebound or a further deterioration in Internet stocks, and here some weekend press may prove telling.

Barron's

went after

Amazon.com

(AMZN) - Get Report

-- or "Amazon.bomb," as the weekly put it -- in a harsh cover story. The story details Amazon's slowing revenue growth rate and its likely difficulty in making its multiple acquisitions pay off in profits.

In other holiday-weekend news:

The embattled euro has picked up some ground at last against the dollar amid chatter that the

European Central Bank

may intervene to support the

European Union's

common currency. The euro traded as high as $1.0484 Monday, having hit an all-time bottom of $1.0399 intraday Friday. Lately it was up a scant 0.0002 at $1.0423.

Yugoslavia confirmed that it has accepted a set of principles laid out by the

powers, including the withdrawal of Yugoslav forces from Kosovo, the deployment of an international security force and the safe return of Kosovar refugees.

NATO

has responded with cautious optimism thus far but wants a direct statement from Yugoslav President

Slobodan Milosevic

Alcan Aluminum

(AL) - Get Report

announced plans for a rolled-aluminum joint venture in South Korea with

Taihan Electric Wire

Telecom Italia

(TI)

agreed to sell a majority stake in its

Stream

pay-TV service to a group led by