US stocks are poised for a higher opening today, bouncing back from a huge slide in the previous session that drove the blue-chip Dow index below the key 10,000 mark.
Investors were encouraged by the performance of Asian markets, which proved resilient to Wall Street's sell-off yesterday, and by news from mobile phone giant Nokia.
"We've been completely oversold, and I think the Nokia news is pretty good, so it looks like we're going to head a little higher here on the open," said Mr Noah Blackstein, vice president at Dynamic Power American Fund.
About $310 billion in investor wealth evaporated in the latest selling frenzy. That brings the total value collapse since the market's peaks in March 2000 to a staggering $4.9 trillion - almost half of the value of all US goods and services last year.
The tech-packed Nasdaq Composite Index closed yesterday at 1,972.10, down 42.68 points or 2.12 per cent. The index has fallen 60.9 per cent from its high of 5,048.62 in March a year ago.
The Dow sank 317.34 points, or 3.08 per cent, to 9,973.46. It was the index's 10th-largest point loss ever as all of its 30 component stocks, the bluest of the blue chips and mainly old economy issues, finished in the red.