Wall Street geared for a mixed start on Tuesday as investors hoped for solid earnings from Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley , but a looming U.S. interest rate decision may continue to dampen sentiment. Takeover speculation may put software vendors Siebel Systems and BEA Systems in focus after industry giant Oracle said in court testimony that it had considered the firms as potential acquisition targets before launching a hostile $7.7 billion takeover on PeopleSoft . Lawson Software , Sybase , Cerner and SCT were also among nine "potential targets" listed in a document presented to Oracle's board in April 2003, and made public on Monday as evidence in an antitrust lawsuit in which U.S. regulators seek to block Oracle's takeover of PeopleSoft. Qwest Communications may also react after The Wall Street Journal reported the firm was in talks with U.S. regulators about a possible multimillion-dollar settlement related to its accounting problems. By 1000 GMT, U.S. stock futures were pointing to modest opening gains of between 0.1 percent and 0.3 percent for the three main indexes . "It promises to be yet another sepulchral session on the Street of Dreams today," said David Buik from Cantor Index.
"There is no economic data to consider, volumes remain very thin and many investors have their positions on hold awaiting next Wednesday when the market will officially know its fate on interest rates." On Monday, the Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> closed 0.43 percent lower at 10,371.47 points, while the tech-laden Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> shed 0.62 percent to 1,974.38. The Dow Jones index looked set to close the second quarter roughly where it started it, standing 0.8 percent lower for the year so far as geopolitical concerns and worries over higher interest rates and a possible hard-landing of China's red-hot economy bedevilled markets globally. Investors were reluctant to open new positions ahead of the Federal Reserve's policy-setting meeting on June 29-30, which is widely expected to start a tightening cycle by raising lending rates by one quarter of a percentage point. "Iraq handover takes place at the end of the month and so does the Fed meeting. It is a period of uncertainty and investors are clearly staying on the sideline doing as little as possible," said Tom Hougaard from City Index.
BANKS EYED
Banks may nab the spotlight in a thin corporate agenda. Investors hoped for solid numbers from Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley after Lehman Brothers recently posted a 39-percent rise in quarterly profit as its debt and equity underwriting businesses remained strong despite higher interest rates. Other stock movers could include Web travel agency Priceline.com , which rose in trade after the closing bell after it raised its profit target for the second quarter, saying the airline and hotel businesses were stronger than anticipated. Shares of Dick's Sporting Goods also jumped in after hours trade, after it was announced it had a deal to buy Galyan's Trading and raised its earnings outlook for 2004, excluding any merger integration costs. Shares of palmOne Inc. also spiked higher after the close. The handheld computer maker posted a fourth-quarter profit compared with a year-ago loss. Shares of palmOne rose to $25.78 on INET, up from its Nasdaq close of $21.46 a share.///