NEW YORK (CNNfn) - U.S. stock investors Friday prepared for a big sell-off of tech issues after leading chip manufacturer Intel said that revenue growth may be as little as half of expectations.
Early indications suggest that all the major U.S. stock indexes will open sharply lower.
The warning late Thursday from Intel (INTC: Research, Estimates) said revenue would climb 3 to 5 percent from the $8.3 billion the company reported in the second quarter, rather than the 6 to 8 percent growth expected.
 The company blamed weak European demand for the shortfall. While it did not give any guidance on earnings, the revenue warning was enough to prompt a nose dive in a wide variety of tech issues in heavy after-hours trading Thursday, and futures trading early Friday indicated the tech heavy Nasdaq is poised to open sharply lower.
Mona Eraiba, semiconductor analyst with Rosetta Management Group, told CNNfn's Ahead of the Curve that many of the problems might be specific to Intel -- that her discussions with other companies such as computer maker Hewlett-Packard's (HWP: Research, Estimates) European division do not suggest a large slow down in sales. But she said that won't spare other tech stocks from taking a bath Friday.
Shares of Intel, a component of the Dow Jones industrial average, plunged $12.91, or 21 percent, to $48.56 after hours, following a drop of $1.59 to $61.47 in regular hours activity.
The Nasdaq 100 futures dropped 92 points to 3,673. The 92-point drop is the limit that the futures are allowed to fall. The drop put the futures 97.79 points below fair value, a benchmark set daily by traders based on future contracts and their underlying stocks, meaning traders expect a much lower open for the Nasdaq market.
S&P futures, the most widely watched futures contract, lost 22.50 points to 1,447 on the Globex trading system. That left futures 18.61 points below fair value, suggesting a lower open for that index.
The S&P futures are also watched as an indicator of the Dow industrials average, with one point of difference between the futures index and fair value equal to about eight points on the blue chip indicator. So the S&P futures suggested the Dow would open down almost 160 points.
 On Thursday, U.S. stocks finished mixed. The Dow snapped a six-day slide with a gain of 77.60 points to 10,765.52. But the Nasdaq ended two days of advances with a loss of 68.57 points, or 1.8 percent, to 3,828.87, and the S&P 500 index slipped 2.29 points to 1,449.05.
In Asia Friday, major markets closed sharply lower, as Intel's warning touched off a sell-off of tech issues. In morning trading in Europe, most of the major markets were lower on tech declines.
In the Treasury market, the 30-year bond gained 2/32 of a point in price in early trading. That sent left its yield little changed from the 5.90 percent level in trading late Thursday. Meanwhile the 10-year note, which some observers now consider their Treasury benchmark, was little changed in price, putting its yield at about 5.85 percent.
In the currency market, the battered euro rebounded to 88.38 cents in early trading Friday from 85.79 cents in late trading Thursday after the European Central Bank finally stepped in Friday morning to buy euros to try to prop up the common currency. Meanwhile the dollar rose to 107.05 yen from 106.67 yen.
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In other company news, Internet investment company CMGI (CMGI: Research, Estimates) posted a smaller-than-expected loss after hours Thursday. The company posted a fourth-quarter loss excluding special items of $142.8 million, or 49 cents a share, far smaller than the $2.45 a share loss projected by analysts surveyed by First Call, but well below the profit posted a year earlier.
Despite doing better than expected, the company was caught in the after-hours sell-off of tech issues, losing $1.94 to $34.50, after being unchanged in regular-hours activity.
A revenue assurance from direct computer maker Dell Computer (DELL: Research, Estimates) also couldn't help support that stock in after-hours activity. Dell executives said the company is still on track to post 30 percent revenue gains for the year, despite only a 25 percent increase in the second quarter. But Dell shares still fell $3.88 to $34.06 after hours, after losing 63 cents to $37.94 in regular-hours activity.
The New York Times reported Friday that financier Carl Icahn has sold all of his General Motors (GM: Research, Estimates) stock. The company's stock had risen when it revealed Icahn's plans to buy up to a 15 percent stake in the world's largest automaker last month. Icahn could not be reached for comment Friday.
There was also earnings assurance from Richard Wagoner, GM's chief executive. In an interview with the Wall Street Journal published Friday, Wagoner said third-quarter results should meet expectations.
His statement comes as auto sales have weakened, U.S. production has slowed and rival Ford Motor Co. (F: Research, Estimates) and a number of auto parts makers have warned of weakening results due at least partly to the costs and problems associated with the recall of Firestone brand tires.
Shares of GM gained $1 to $68.31 in trading Thursday.
The Journal also reported Friday that Steve Chase, the chief executive of America Online (AOL: Research, Estimates), and Gerald Levin, chief executive of Time Warner (TWX: Research, Estimates) have met with top U.S. regulators to discuss the regulators' concerns about the combined company's use of its cable networks.
Shares of AOL lost $1.44 to $53.50 in regular-hours trading Thursday, while Time Warner, the parent of CNNfn, gained 59 cents to $79.25.
There are no major economic reports due Friday. 
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