Paint the Table

[Foxlette]

NEW YORK (CBS.MW) - U.S. stocks are poised for some upside once trading begins in earnest on Wednesday after an ugly tech beating on Tuesday.

The stock averages, hovering at 2-month lows, have closed lower for two consecutive sessions.

March S&P 500 futures jumped 3.40 points, or 0.3 percent, and were trading about 4.40 points above fair value, according to HL Camp & Co. And Nasdaq futures added 10.50 points, or 0.7 percent and were trading 10.60 points above fair value.

Among shares seeing activity before the opening bell sounds, Motorola rose to $14, up 47 cents. Read Indications. Motorola (NYSE: MOT - news) reported after the close Tuesday a fourth-quarter loss from operations that was a touch better-than-expectations while revenue came in short of projections. The report capped the company's first money-losing one-year period in 71 years. But the chip and wireless phone company reiterated its previous prediction that it will return to profitability in the second half of 2002.

Among other chip stocks, Altera (NasdaqNM: ALTR - news) reported late Tuesday a fourth-quarter profit that was in line with the consensus estimate while revenue came in a touch lower than expectations.

Among the chip equipment makers, Novellus Systems (NasdaqNM: NVLS - news) posted late Tuesday a fourth-quarter profit that slightly surpassed expectations.

Set to aid the equipment group was am optimistic note from J.P. Morgan H&Q. The broker upped its ratings on Applied Materials (NasdaqNM: AMAT - news) , KLA-Tencor (NasdaqNM: KLAC - news) , Novellus, Teradyne (NYSE: TER - news) and Varian Semi (NasdaqNM: VSEA - news) to a "long-term buy" from a "market perform," saying the worst news is likely behind for the group.

Treasury focus
Over in the government bond arena, the 10-year Treasury note shed 2/32 to yield 4.93 percent while the 30-year government bond rose 2/32 to yield 5.385 percent.

No economic news is due out on Wednesday in a week that will see extremely few releases. Fed chair Alan Greenspan's testimony before the Senate on Thursday will represent the highlight for investors looking to figure out what the Fed's next interest-rate move may be.

In the currency sector, the dollar rose 0.2 percent to 133.99 yen while the euro was off 0.1 percent at 88.54 cents.