By James Langton

(March 9 – 09:00 ET) – It should be a rough open, today. Last night, Intel Corp. cut its sales forecast for the third straight quarter with the explanation that the slowing economy is cutting into demand for PCs and networking equipment. Intel is cutting 5,000 jobs. Cisco Systems Inc. is said to be planning to cut 5% of its staff.

In the wake of this news, the U.S. jobless rate was reported unchanged at 0.2% in February. However, wages rose more than expected.

The stronger-than-expected report has skewered any hopes for an U.S. Federal Reserve inter-meeting rate cut, but it has also minmized inflation fears.

Here in Canada, StatsCan reported that employment declined by 24,000 in February, after showing no change in January. The slowdown seems to be spreading north. The unemployment rate remained unchanged, though, at 6.9%.

Industrial capacity utilization in Canada eased slightly for a second consecutive quarter to 85.4%, down 0.2%. The declines were seen most acutely in manufacturing, logging and forestry, and construction. These numbers reflect a cooling that was perhaps anticipated by the Bank of Canada when it cut rates on Tuesday.

In Europe, stocks are down mostly on the Intel news. Chipmakers are leading the techs down. The FTSE in London is off 23 points to 5980. The Paris CAC 40 has dropped 45 points to 5394. The German DAX is down 22 points to 6245.

Overnight in Japan, stocks slid a bit, too, although Intel is the least of their worries with the government on the verge of collapse and the economy not far behind. Proposed tax cuts to salvage the economy were announced. As a result, the Nikkei only dropped 23 points to close at 12628. The Hang Seng shed 15 points to 14194.