Before the bell: Techs to the rescue -- stocks poised for a rebound

Posted Nov 6th 2007 7:48AM by Melly Alazraki
Filed under: Before the Bell, Earnings Reports, Analyst Reports, Yahoo! (YHOO), Market Matters, Archer-Daniels-Midland (ADM), Office Depot (ODP), Sun Microsystems (JAVA), Initial Public Offerings, Housing

U.S. stock futures were higher this morning indicating stocks may be poised for a rebound at the open as investors focused on strength from the tech sector rather than financial sector woes, housing sector problems, the dollar skidding to yet another record low and oil once again near record highs.

Yesterday, U.S. stocks ended lower as Citigroup (NYSE: C) and after financials were hurt following Citigroup's early announcement of up to $11 billion in writedowns due to subprime . The Dow industrials fell 51 points, or 0.38%, the S&P 500 lost 7 points or 0.5% and the Nasdaq Composite lost 15 points or 0.54%.

No major economic data is to be released today.
Oil prices rose to $95.75 a barrel (near the $96.24 intraday high) today on expectations of further declines in U.S. crude oil stocks -- to be reported tomorrow -- fueling supply concerns ahead of winter.

Meanwhile, former U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said "that cutting excess home inventories in the United States is key to stabilize the financial system at home and the rest of the world."

Overseas, Asian markets closed mixed while European stocks are trading higher.

Reporting today are Archer-Daniels Midland Co. (NYSE: ADM) and Office Depot Inc. (NYSE: ODP).

The tech will no doubt be in focuse today following Alibaba.com's debut in Hong Kong. Shares of the Chinese e-commerce portal nearly tripled. Analysts, however, don't believe this rise to be sustainable. Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO), holds a 39% stake in Alibaba.com's parent, Alibaba Group, and bought about $100 million worth of Alibaba.com shares stands to gain from the IPO. YHOO shares are up over 3% in premarket.

More good news in the tech sector came from Sun Microsystems Inc. (NASDAQ: JAVA), struck new alliances with former foes Microsoft and IBM that helped the company return to profit as it executes a wrenching turnaround strategy. Net income for the July-September period was $89 million, or 3 cents per share, inline with analysts' estimates.

Tags: adm, alibaba, featured, java, odp, yhoo