Stocks appear to be facing a flat opening his morning, with traders looking ahead to tomorrow’s rate decision in the U.S. There’s not much news to get in the way of that decision.

In Europe, stocks are down a bit, led by Deutsche Bank AG and Vodafone Group plc, Nokia Oyj and Ericsson AB. Profit worries are gripping traders after Japanese chipmaker Fujitsu Ltd. said it will be cutting 10% of its workforce – about 16,400 jobs. Also, Korn/Ferry International is cutting 20% of its workforce – about 500 jobs. The weakness in telecoms is followed by banks and oils too.

But on the upside, Lowe’s Co., the second-biggest U.S. home reno retailer, saw its second quarter profit up 18%. Bayer AG is up sharply amid reports that GlaxoSmithKline plc may buy its drug unit.

The FTSE is down 18 points to 5324. The CAC 40 is down 21 points to 4757. The DAX has shed 49 points to 5173.

Overnight in Asia, the slides were more spectacular. The Fujitsu news helped tank tech stocks there. The Nikkei dropped 188 points to 11258. The Hang Seng was hammered with losses in China Mobile and Hutchison Whampoa, dropping 296 points to 11459.

In M&A news, Mosaic Technologies says it is interested in acquiring the assets of ITI Education Corp., the Halifax-based technology school with seven branches across the country. ITI was placed into receivership late last week.