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Market mulls bottom lines
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April 19, 1999: 7:16 a.m. ET
Wall Street ponders whether turn away from tech stocks will sharpen
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Wall Street settles back down to work Monday, looking at developments in the technology sector and contemplating a week full of earnings reports.
Stocks looked set to open higher Monday, with S&P futures on the Globex exchange system higher about eight points in the early morning. Typically, one point on the futures index equals eight points on the Dow Jones industrials as trading begins.
Last week, the Dow industrials rose steadily, setting five straight record highs, as technology issues were somewhat in the doldrums. Now is a good time to buy cyclical stocks, though the trend may be influenced by a batch of quarterly earnings reports due out this week, said Rick White, portfolio manager at Neuberger & Berman.
"We are seeing some broadening in the market here and I think it's very healthy," he told CNNfn's "Business Day."
On Friday, the Dow Jones industrial average notched up 31.37 points to end the week at 10,493.89. The Nasdaq Composite extended its decline from earlier in the week, shedding 37.73 points to 2,484.04. For the week, the Nasdaq lost 4.27 percent.
The S&P 500 index eased 3.85 to 1,319.00.
In Asia on Monday, Japanese investors were preoccupied with the strong yen and missed out on a broader rally across the region. Bourses in Europe got a boost from the Dow's continued climb as well as more takeover talk. Deutsche Telekom (DT) admitted over the weekend it was holding alliance talks with Telecom Italia (TI), without giving further details. The reports sent Deutsche Telekom's stock up about 3 percent in Frankfurt.
In the bond market, the price of the benchmark 30-year Treasury was down 1/32, for a yield of 5.57 percent. The dollar bought 117.72 Japanese yen, compared with 117.85 late Friday. The dollar was up against the euro, at $1.06554.
Over the weekend, Compaq Computer Corp. (CPQ) said that its chief executive, Eckhard Pfeiffer, has resigned. The shakeup came after the world's No. 1 PC maker disclosed that first-quarter profits would be only half of what analysts had predicted.
Before the market opened Monday, BellSouth Corp (BLS) announced that it was buying an equity stake in Qwest Communications International Inc. (QWEST). BellSouth said would invest about $3.5 billion for a 10 percent stake as part of an alliance to provide advanced digital communications services.
In other company news, Columbia Energy Group said it has formally offered to buy Consolidated Natural Gas Co. (CNG) in a cash and stock bid valued at about $6.7 billion. Consolidated Natural had agreed in late February to be acquired by Dominion Resources Inc. (D) for $6.3 billion in stock.
Investors will be served up a full plate of quarterly earnings reports Monday, the beginning of a big week of profit reports. Companies scheduled to report include two big banks, BankAmerica (BAC) and Bank of New York (BK), as well as drug maker Eli Lilly (LLY and Rockwell International (ROK).
Investors hoping to get in on new public offerings will have a number of opportunities this week. The IPO market will be dominated with Internet-related issues, including service provider Log On America. 
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