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Wall St. positions for 2001
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December 28, 2000: 7:21 a.m. ET
Investors watch to see if modest year-ending rally can continue
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - U.S. stock investors waited to see if a modest rally could continue Thursday as they set themselves up for the start of trading in 2001.
Early indications suggest U.S. stocks will open mixed.
 The Nasdaq 100 futures lost 20.50 points to 2,486 in early trading. That put the futures 5.22 points below fair value, a benchmark set daily by traders based on future contracts and their underlying stocks, meaning traders expect a lower open for the Nasdaq market.
S&P futures, the most widely watched futures contract, lost 5.30 points to 1,345.20 on the Globex trading system. But that still left futures 3.05 points above fair value, suggesting a slightly higher open for the S&P 500.
The S&P futures are also watched as an indicator of the Dow Jones industrial average, with one point of difference between the futures index and fair value equal to about eight points on the Dow. So the S&P futures suggested the blue chip indicator will open up about 24 points.
 On Wednesday, U.S. stocks finished higher. The Dow rose for the third straight session, gaining 110.72 points, or more than 1 percent, to 10,803.16. The Nasdaq composite index climbed 45.83 points, or 1.8 percent, to close at 2,539.35. The S&P 500 index finished up 13.73 points, or 1 percent, at 1,328.92.
In Asia Thursday, major markets were mixed in light trading ahead of the New Year's holiday. In morning trading in Europe, major markets were mostly higher on strength in tech stocks, although London's FTSE index lost ground early.
In the Treasury market, the 30-year bond dropped 13/32 of a point in price in early trading. That sent its yield, which moves in the opposite direction, to 5.48 percent from 5.45 percent in trading late Wednesday. The 10-year note fell 4/32 of a point, which raised its yield to 5.12 percent from 5.11 percent.
In the currency market, the dollar strengthened versus the euro but lost ground on the yen in early trading. The euro slipped to 92.85 cents from 92.95 cents in late trading Wednesday, while the dollar rose to 114.60 yen from 114.35 yen.
Oil prices were lower in London trading Thursday. The price for Brent Crude for March delivery dropped 19 cents to $23.70 a barrel.
In company news, the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday that federal regulators will not meet a year-end target date for ruling on the proposed purchase of Time Warner by America Online.
 The report said Federal Communications Commission decision makers received the recommendations on the deal from their staff only two weeks ago -- not enough time to decide whether to allow the deal to proceed in its current form.
AOL warned last week that it would face substantial burdens and costs if it was unable to close the deal by year's end.
Shares of Time Warner (TWX: Research, Estimates), parent of CNNfn, lost $4.75 to $53.50 in trading Wednesday, while shares of AOL (AOL: Research, Estimates) lost $2.75 to $35.75
Online retailing bellwether Amazon.com said late Wednesday that it was pleased with its holiday shopping volume.
The company said it handled 31 million orders through its Web sites between Nov. 2 and Dec. 23. But it did not give details on revenue or profit performance for the period.
Shares of Amazon (AMZN: Research, Estimates) gained 13 cents to $17 in after-hours trading, after losing 6 cents in regular-hours activity Wednesday.
Union Pacific, owner of the nation's largest railroad, warned it would miss fourth quarter earnings forecasts and announced it would cut about 2,000 jobs as well as capital spending because it sees a slowing in the U.S. economy.
The railroad said that it now expects to earn between 87 and 90 cents a share in the quarter, down from the 93 cents a share forecast of analysts surveyed by First Call and the 95 cents a share it earned a year earlier. It also said that the volume of its shipments gained only 1 percent, well below its expectations, and that its customers, which include the nation's major businesses, don't see a pick-up in business anytime soon.
Shares of Union Pacific (UNP: Research, Estimates) gained $1.44 to $52.63 in regular-hours trading ahead of the warning.
Contract electronics manufacturer Jabil Circuits saw shares climb after-hours following an announcement it will be joining the S&P 500 index at an unspecified date in the future. Managers of index funds often need to buy shares of new components in order to stay in synch with the index of large cap companies. Jabil (JBL: Research, Estimates) is to replace Coastal Corp. (CGP: Research, Estimates), which is being purchased by another S&P 500 component, El Paso Energy (EPG: Research, Estimates).
Shares of Jabil gained $3.63, or 16 percent, to $26.63 in after-hours trading following the announcement, after a gain of $1 to $23 in regular-hours activity.
National Steel warned Wednesday that fourth-quarter revenue and losses will come in worse than expected due to continued lower demand for steel.
Mishawaka, Ind.-based National Steel (NS: Research, Estimates), which is majority owned by Japanese steelmaker NKK Corp., expects to post losses of $2.20 to $2.30 a share, compared with the First Call forecast of $1.53 a share and the 17 cents a share it lost in the year-ago period.
Shares of National Steel dropped 6 cents a share to $1.19 in trading Wednesday ahead of the announcement.
A report in Times of London says that cell phone operators could be facing a new legal challenge as personal injury lawyer Peter Angelos, who won judgments against tobacco companies and asbestos makers, told the paper he plans to launch 10 claims against the industry. Verizon Wireless, the leading U.S. provider which is owned by Vodafone Group and Verizon Communications (VZ: Research, Estimates), will be named in almost all the actions.
Shares of Verizon gained 81 cents to $50.56 in trading Wednesday. Vodafone lost 4.75 pence to 232.75 pence in London trading Thursday; its U.S.-traded shares (VOD: Research, Estimates) dropped 75 cents Wednesday to $35.
Economic reports due Thursday include the report on November existing home sales from the National Association of Realtors and the December measure of consumer confidence from The Conference Board.
Existing home sales are expected to come in at an annual rate of 5.06 million, up from 4.96 million in October, according to economists surveyed by Briefing.com. Analysts expect the Conference Board's consumer confidence index to decline sharply to 128.0 from 133.5 in November.
The consumer confidence report will be watched after another measure of that sentiment from the University of Michigan released last Friday showed one of the largest monthly declines ever in December. Consumer confidence is important because consumer spending accounts for about two-thirds of the nation's economy. 
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