Euroshares open lower after strong Wall St falls; EADS shines on US win

LONDON, March 3, 2008 (Thomson Financial delivered by Newstex) - European leader in the sharp drop in scholarships moved to the job opening after heavy falls in the United States on Friday and today as Asia's economic woes back full force with little relief expected Thursday ECB and BoE meetings.

At 08.06, the DJ STOXX 50 fell by 54.03 points, or 1.69 pct, to 3134.79 and the DJ STOXX 600 fell by 5.08 points, or 1.61 pct, to 313.8 euros.

Friday, the Dow fell 315.79, or 2.51 pct, to 12266.39, wiping out the week and 200 point to win in February, the fourth consecutive month of losses for the blue chip index.

Broader stock indicators also tumbled. The Standard & Poor's (NYSE: MHP) 500 index lost 37.05, or 2.71 pct, at 1330.63, and the Nasdaq composite index fell 60.09, or 2.58 pct, to 2271.48.

Investors were unnerved by disappointing quarterly results from American International Group Inc. (NYSE: AIG) and Dell Inc. (Nasdaq: DELL), and an index of regional economic activity that Wall Street sees as a good indicator of a report more complete set to arrive next week Had showing its weakest in more than six years.

Oil prices have continued to stoke concerns about inflation after pushing past 103 usd per barrel for the first time.

In Asia this morning, the Nikkei closed down 610.84 points, or 4.5 pct, to 12992.18 as sombre mood prevalent in the Pacific.

In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index fell by 717.17 points, or 3 pct, at 23614.50 at midday.

Crude oil prices remained above US $ 101 per barrel in Asian trading Monday ahead of the meeting of OPEC on Wednesday with the cartel should maintain current levels of production.

In late morning Asian trading, New York, the main contract, light sweet crude for April delivery fell to $ 101.84, the closing price on Friday in New York.

And there is little on the calendar to inspire investors today with a salary to a slowdown news drizzle and only a handful of reports of weekend.

EADS has shined in other markets dull - up 9.93 pct - after group Airbus announced Friday its joint unit won a contract of 35 billion euros with Northrop Grumman Corp. (NYSE: NOC) to build refueling aircraft airborne for the US Air Force.

The news has prompted Oddo Securities to improve the operations to "add" from "reduce".

The broker said it was valuing the contract at 3.5 euros per share.

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