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Dow: Clear skies ahead?
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August 28, 1998: 7:58 a.m. ET
Futures trading climbs overseas as investors bet market has bottomed out
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Wall Street appeared ready early Friday to throw off the previous day's thrashing and stage a comeback.
The Dow Jones industrial average suffered its worst loss of the year in Thursday trading, closing down 357.36 at 8165.99. Based on S&P 500 futures trading on the Globex system, however, the Dow looked ready to slowly climb out of the abyss.
S&P futures were down as low as 11 points in early overseas trading but had recovered into positive territory, a sign that U.S. markets may have bottomed out. Shortly after 7:30 a.m. Eastern time, S&P futures were up 11.90 points, translating to an early 95-point gain for the Dow.
(Click here to see the latest S&P futures quote)
In Asia, all major markets posted heavy losses in overnight trading, falling in sympathy with Thursday's sell-off in U.S. markets. Japanese shares ended at a 12-year low.
European bourses were also victims of Wall Street aftershocks in early Friday trading. Russia's economic and political turmoil, the major source of Wall Street's pain, took its toll on London, Paris and Frankfurt stocks.
The flight from overseas stocks has been good news for the U.S. bond market, as the long-term yield hit another new low in Thursday trading. In overseas trading Friday, the benchmark 30-year Treasury bond was up 3/32 of a point for a yield of 5.34 percent.
In individual issues, Tellabs Inc. agreed again to acquire rival telecommunications equipment maker Ciena Corp. , this time in a $4.7 billion stock deal. Tellabs restructured the agreement after Ciena shares lost nearly half their value last Friday after the company failed to win a lucrative contract from AT&T (T).
Tellabs (TLAB) shares fell 11/16 to close at 57-13/16 in Thursday trading. Ciena (CIEN) shares fell 3-7/16 to finish at 30-13/16.
PanAmSat Corp. warned analysts that it expects a revenue shortfall of more than $200 million and earnings about 35 percent below 1998 expectations because of Wednesday night's explosion of its $225 million Galaxy 10 satellite. PanAmSat (SPOT) shares tumbled 7-5/16 to close at 42-1/4.
Personal-finance software maker Intuit Inc. reported a fiscal fourth-quarter profit of 3 cents a share, beating consensus estimates by 2 cents a share. Intuit (INTU) shares closed at 45-1/4, off 2-13/16.
Finally, the Securities and Exchange Commission filed administrative proceedings against First Union Corp., alleging it failed to disclose the use of a lobbyist in a Florida municipal bond case. The SEC. First Union (FTU) shares slipped 15/16 to close at 50-3/8. 
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