Pre-market futures trading, as well as trading on the Europeans bourses is down, Wednesday, indicating a shakey opening for North American equity markets.

European markets are down in morning trading. The FTSE 100 is down 0.9%, losing 32.50 points to 3,636.7. Declines were steeper on the continent. Frankfurt’s DAX is down 1.4% and the Paris CAC-40 has lost 1.7%.

U.S. Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan is testifying before congress again today. Yesterday, he highlighted the impact of Washington’s war drums on the economy. Investor sentiment is down and business are restraining their spending. In a note of frustration, Greenspan said the impact of war is out of his hands.

Meanwhile, an audio tape alleged to have come from Osama bin Laden urges Iraqis to conduct suicide attacks against Americans and defend themselves with urban warfare against a U.S. attack.

There is also some bad economic news here at home. On the consumption front, in December, consumers cut back spending in department stores. Sales declined 0.3% from their November level to $1.75 billion (seasonally adjusted). December’s decline wiped out the gain recorded in November (+0.3%). Following a period of strong growth that began in the fall of 2001, department store sales remained at a high level since the start of 2002. Throughout the year, they hovered around a monthly average of $1.75 billion. Before the fall of 2001, sales had generally been moving upward since the spring of 2000.

Set against the bleak news is some positive economic indicators. Industry Canada says individual bankruptcies were up in December, but business bankruptcies are down by 13.9%.

The New Housing Price Index also rose in December. It’s up 0.3% from November, capping off a strong year of growth in new house prices. Compared with December 2001, this index of contractors’ selling prices was up 5.1%, the highest 12-month increase in more than 12 years. The highest increases occurred in St. Catherines-Niagra and Calagary.

The composite price index for non-residential building construction in the fourth quarter was 116.4, up 0.9% from the third quarter, and 2.5% from the fourth quarter of 2001. This is the highest year-over-year percentage change since an identical one in the third quarter of 2001.

Asian stocks were mostly higher overnight. Japan’s benchmark Nikkei average climbed 179.24 points to 8,664.17. In Honk Kong, the Hang Seng Index was up 119.99 at 9,314.90.