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Wall St seen flat;eyes Applied Materials,Microsoft
Wednesday November 12, 6:55 am ET


LONDON, Nov 12 (Reuters) - Wall Street was poised for a lacklustre start on Wednesday with technology stocks in focus ahead of earnings from Applied Materials (NasdaqNM:AMAT - News) and after pleasing results from Computer Sciences (NYSE:CSC - News).
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Microsoft (NasdaqNM:MSFT - News) will be in the spotlight also as it defends itself against EU regulators' charges it abused its dominance of desktop operating systems.

With a light corporate earnings and economic calendar, equities will likely remain in a tight trading range after hitting 2003 highs last week, dealers said.

By 1100 GMT, U.S. stock index futures were pointing to a flat start to New York trading.

"It's been a quiet week so far. It was a public holiday yesterday, and we haven't had any data on the agenda to give us any guidance as to where the market is going," said Peter Dixon, an economist at Commerzbank.

"All in all we're consolidating on the back of a pretty good few weeks for the economy and perceptions of where the U.S. is heading".

Among other likely stock movers, shares in Computer Sciences are seen higher after the computer services firm reported higher earnings after the close of trade on Tuesday.

Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE:ANF - News) will also be in focus after the retailer posted increased third-quarter earnings as improved margins offset a continued sales slump.

Computer Sciences shares rose to $41.70 via Instinet from a close of $40.79 in after-hours trading, while Abercrombie stock slipped to $28 from a close of $28.83.

Microsoft shares are not expected to move sharply.

"News on Microsoft will be dribbling out all day, but I don't expect that stock to really get hit or have a big move up. That company's on hold," said Steve Previs, a dealer in U.S. shares at Jefferies International.

After a blitz of quarterly results, corporate earnings have slowed to a trickle, with chip toolmaker Applied Materials the only major U.S. company reporting on Wednesday.

Quarterly scorecards from Dell Computer (NasdaqNM:DELL - News) and Dow-component Wal-Mart (NYSE:WMT - News) on Thursday are also keenly awaited.

On Tuesday, the Dow Jones industrial average (^DJI - News) closed 0.2 percent weaker at 9,737 points, while the tech-laden Nasdaq Composite (NasdaqSC:^IXIC - News) closed 0.6 percent lower at 1,931 points.

The Dow has been trading in a range of about 9,720 and 9,904 over the past two weeks and is unlikely to break out of this pattern unless corporate earnings continue to outperform expectations, economists said.

"We're getting to a stage where pretty much all the good news is factored in and we'll have to see some strong upwards news to force it even higher," Dixon said.

Retail sales data and producer prices data for October, due on Friday, will help provide more clues on the strength of the U.S. economy.