NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Wall Street will look for signs that tech stocks are set to end a four-day slide Tuesday after getting a glimmer of hope late in the prior session on a rally from a 6 percent decline.
Early indications suggest U.S. stocks will open higher.
The Nasdaq 100 futures rose 34.45 points to 3,331.95 early Tuesday. The futures were about 51 points above fair value, a benchmark set daily by traders based on future contracts and their underlying stocks, meaning traders expect a higher open for the Nasdaq market.
S&P futures, the most widely watched futures contract, gained 5.60 points to 1,409.40 on the Globex trading system, and they were about 3 points above its fair value, suggesting a higher open for that broader measure. The S&P futures are also watched as an indicator of the Dow Jones industrial average, with one point of difference between the futures index and fair value equal to about eight points on the Dow Jones industrial average. So the S&P futures suggested the Dow would open up about 24 points Tuesday.
The Dow Jones industrial futures themselves were up 13 points to 10,590 earlier Tuesday.
 On Monday, U.S. stocks finished lower, though well off the lows of the day. The Nasdaq composite lost 26.19 points, or 0.8 percent, to close at 3,364.21, just 43 points above its lowest close for the year. But the index had been off as much as 218 points earlier in the day before the rebound.
The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 84.30 points, or 0.8 percent, to 10,542.55, up from its low of the day of 10,369. The S&P 500 slipped 6.23 points, or 0.4 percent, to 1,400.72.
Some market watchers say Nasdaq's late rally back above the low for the year suggests that the two-month slide may be over. But some bears say the continued light volume means it's too early to say that for certain.
"What would be more impressive would be see a day like yesterday and then follow through from that move," Greg Kuhn, market analyst with Kuhn Asset Management, told CNNfn's Ahead of the Curve program Tuesday. "Let's see if the Nasdaq composite can advance for more than two or three days and on volume. Every rally we've had off the low has been on below-average volume."(390KB WAV) (390KB AIFF)
European markets up after a late Asian rally
Major markets finished mixed Asia Tuesday after late rallies erased broader losses. Tokyo's Nikkei index lost 67.28 points, or 0.4 percent, to an 11-month low of at 16,318.73. Telecom and technology stocks led it lower.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng rallied to close up 116.45, or 0.8 percent, to 14,257.18, and Singapore's Straits Times index lost 24.0 points, or 1.3 percent, to 1,905.78 after a comeback.
Major markets gained in morning trading in Europe Tuesday, helped by earnings reports and a rebound in telecom shares. London's benchmark FTSE 100 gained 45.20 points, or 0.8 percent, to 6,080.70, while the Paris CAC 40 climbed 62.87 points, or 1 percent, to 6,157.04. Frankfurt's Xetra Dax index climbed 60.05 points, or 0.9 percent, to 6,973.01, while Zurich's SMI rose 132.90 points, or 1.7 percent, to 7,844.6.
In the Treasury market, the 30-year bond was little changed in price in trading early Tuesday, dropping 1/32 of a point. That raised its yield to 6.19 percent from 6.18 percent late Monday. Meanwhile the yield on the 10-year note, which some observers now consider their Treasury benchmark, was little changed at 6.44 percent.
In the currency market, the dollar weakened versus the euro and the yen in early trading Tuesday. The euro was worth 90.97 cents, compared with 90.32 cents in trading late Monday. Meanwhile, the dollar fell to 106.77 yen from 106.97.
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Deals, expected earnings reports lead company news
Philips Electronics unveiled a $1.1 billion takeover offer for U.S. medical electronics firm MedQuist late Monday, offering $51 a share in cash for approximately 60 percent of MedQuist's stock.
 Marlton, N.J.-based MedQuist (MEDQ: Research, Estimates) provides outsourced medical transcription services -- turning dictation into medical reports -- although the aim of the deal is to turn the company into a more broad-based provider of medical document services over broadband networks.
The offer from the Dutch company, announced after the U.S. market close Monday, is a 30 percent premium over 39-1/8 closing price for MedQuest, which was a 5/16 gain for the day. Shares of Philips rose 4 percent to 44.35 euros in early Amsterdam trading Tuesday.
In other company news, Global Crossing Ltd. (GBLX: Research, Estimates) on Monday filed a $1 billion lawsuit against a unit of Tyco International Ltd. (TYC: Research, Estimates) for breach of contract relating to the installation of a fiber-optic cable system in South America. Tyco issued a statement late Monday, alleging Global Crossing's suit was a tactic to avoid payment for services performed by the Tyco's Submarine Systems unit.
Shares of Tyco fell 3-1/2 to 44 in regular-hours trading Monday, then were unchanged in active after-hours trading on MarketXT. Global Crossing shares lost 17/32 to 28-1/32 in regular-hours trading Monday.
Bestfoods (BFO: Research, Estimates) is talking to British food and drink company Diageo regarding a deal that might save the U.S. company from an unwelcome takeover approach by Unilever, according to a report in The Financial Times Tuesday.
The report said the British company was interested in acquiring Bestfoods' bakery division, which it could combine with its Pillsbury arm. Another possibility is the purchase of Pillsbury by Bestfoods, although the newspaper said that people close to the talks indicated such a move would have negative tax consequences for Diageo.
Bestfoods, the maker of Knorr soups and Hellmann's mayonnaise, is fighting an $18.4 billion approach from Anglo-Dutch consumer products maker Unilever, worth $66 a share.
Shares of Bestfoods closed up 1/4 to 63-1/4 in trading Monday, while Diageo shares lost 8.25 pence to 549.75 pence in London trading early Tuesday, and Unilever shares lost 7.25 pence to 462.25 pence in trading there.
Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer (PFE: Research, Estimates) had a setback for its popular drug Viagra, as a study commissioned by the company found no benefits for women suffering from sexual dysfunctions, such as difficulty getting aroused. The study is due to be released the American College of Obstetrics & Gynecology meeting in San Francisco on Tuesday.
The drug company got some good news, though, as the European Union approved its proposed purchase of Warner-Lambert (WLA: Research, Estimates), and a U.S. District judge said late Monday she would throw out a $143 million trademark infringement verdict against Pfizer because of what she called misconduct by the lawyers for British-based Trovan Ltd.
Shares of Pfizer lost 1/4 to 43-15/16 in trading Monday.
Quarter results from some high profile software providers are due after the market close Tuesday.
Among those expected to report is financial software leader Intuit (INTU: Research, Estimates), maker of Quicken accounting software. Analysts surveyed by earnings tracker First Call forecast the company earned 33 cents a share in its fiscal third quarter, which ended last month, up from 24 cents a share a year earlier.
Novell (NOVL: Research, Estimates), provider of network and Internet directory software and services, is forecast to see earnings fall to 1 cent a share for its fiscal second quarter, down from 11 cents a share a year earlier. And VA Linux Systems (LNUX: Research, Estimates), a leading provider of Linux, an alternative to the Windows operating system, is expected to report a loss of 23 cents a share in its fiscal third quarter.
Intuit shares lost 13/16 to 28-5/16 in regular-hours trading Monday, then gained 5/16 of that back in after-hours trades. Novell slipped 1/8 to 8-15/16, in regular-hours trading, then rose 3/16 after-hours. And VA Linux shares lost 2-3/4 to 44-1/4 in regular-hours trading, then recaptured that loss after hours.
Storage software provider Veritas Software Corp. (VRTS: Research, Estimates) announced after the market close Monday that it had entered a partnership with Oracle Corp. (ORCL: Research, Estimates) and Sun Microsystems (SUNW: Research, Estimates) to provide a set of integrated services for Internet-based companies. The three companies have formed a joint escalation center staffed by senior computer support engineers, officials said.
Shares of Oracle were down 11/16 to 67-1/8 in active after-hours trading after losing 2-1/4 in regular-hours trading. Sun shares lost 5/8 to 79-1/4, also in active after-hours trading, after its shares gained 2-5/8 in regular hours activity. Veritas shares slipped 3/16 to 102-11/16 in light after-hours trading, after a rise of 3/4 in regular-hours trading. 
-- Reuters contributed to this report
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