By James Langton

(March 26 – 09:00 ET) – Stocks are pointing to a strong up open this morning, as last week’s rally looks set to carry over to this week.

U.S. futures are up notably and foreign markets have made strong gains in the wake of Friday’s rally in the United States. Stocks such as Oracle Corp. and Cisco Systems Inc. are pointing to a strong open.

One stock that won’t be going up is PMC-Sierra Inc. The firm announced today that its revenue and earnings for the first quarter of 2001 will be lower than previously projected due to weak demand and cancellation of backlog during the quarter.

The company is revising its revenue guidance for the first quarter to between $118 million and $120 million and is projecting pro forma earnings per share of between 2¢ and 3¢, excluding amortization of intangibles and charges related to a workforce reduction of 230 employees. As a result, the firm is also anticipating a one-time charge in the first quarter of 2001.

PMC-Sierra apart, stocks are strong so far today. The FTSE is up 147 points to 5,549. The CAC 40 has gained 145 points to 5,096. The DAX is up 168 points to 5,712.

Asia saw some heavy rallying, too, despite the yen dropping to almost a two-year low as Japan’s recovery prospects continue to falter. The Nikkei added 648 points though to 13,862, a gain of almost 5%. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng tacked on 367 points to12,951.

Today also brings several M&A announcements. Dutch telecom giant Royal KPN NV says it plans to raise at least US$4.5 billion from asset sales.

Johnson & Johnson is said to be in talks to buy specialty pharmaceutical maker Alza Corp. for up to US$12 billion, according to both the Wall Street Journal and the Financial Times.

Norske Skog Canada announced today that it plans to acquire Pacifica Papers Inc., a move that will create North America’s third largest newsprint and specialty groundwood papers company, with combined annual sales of $2.5 billion. The company will retain the Norske Skog Canada name and will be headquartered in Vancouver.

In earnings news, AT Plastics reported a net loss of $24.6 million, or 74¢ a share in the fourth quarter. Before a special charge, the company had an after-tax loss of $3 million, compared with earnings of $1.2 million in the third quarter of fiscal 2000, and a net loss of $283,000 in the fourth quarter of fiscal 1999. For the year, AT reported a net loss of $25.7 million, or 82¢ a share, compared with a net loss of 13¢ a share in fiscal 1999.

AKITA Drilling Ltd. announced that earnings for the year ended December 31, were $1.23 a share, compared to 56¢ a share in 1999.