NEW YORK, Sept 7 (Reuters) - Stock futures rose in pre-open trading on Friday, bolstered by gains in high-tech heavyweights like software giant Microsoft Corpand the world's top semiconductor maker Intel Corp.
Intel announced after Thursday's close that third-quarter sales will be at the lower end of a range it set in July as it grapples with a global slowdown in personal computer sales.
Intel's revised guidance was within the expectations of most analysts on Wall Street, and the company's chief financial officer said that all of Intel's businesses were nearly dead-on with its internal forecasts. Intel rose to $26.68 on the Instinet electronic brokerage system from its close on Thursday at $26.10.
Shares of Microsoft ticked higher after the Bush administration shifted strategy in the landmark Microsoft antitrust case on Thursday, dropping its push to break up the company in order to get other sanctions against the software leader "as quickly as possible."
It rose to $56.50 from Thursday's close of $56.02.
Standard & Poor's 500 September futures were up 2.50 points at 1,106.10, while Nasdaq 100 September futures rose 11.50 points to 1,374.
Internet retailer eBay Inc. , however, fell to $53.60 in pre-open trading from Thursday's close of $55.09 after it filed with U.S. regulators late Thursday to periodically sell up to $1 billion of common stock.
