By James Langton

(April 3 – 09:00 ET) – Markets look set to slide this morning. Tech stocks are down both in pre-market trading and on European exchanges.

BroadVision Inc. is the latest firm to warn about earnings and cut jobs, joined by Ariba Inc. and Inktomi Corp. Assorted other tech stock warnings and news that Nokia Oyj will provide US$1.8 billion of financing for France Telecom SA to build wireless networks have spooked traders.

Nokia is leading the way down in Europe, joined by software firms. The massive financing deal is seen as a sign of desperation for Nokia, and a sign of poor profits industry wide.

Business and Consumer Confidence in the Eurozone fell for the third straight month in March. This has the euro up on speculation that the European Central Bank will cut interest rates next week.

Nevertheless, the FTSE is down 99 points to 5,519. The CAC 40 has dropped 129 points to 5,081, and the DAX is off 107 points to 5,653.

Overnight in Asia, stocks were mixed. Japan saw the Nikkei recover 187 points to 13,124. Tension between China and the U.S. sent Hong Kong’s Hang Seng down 143 points to 12,584.

In other news, troubled Geac Computer Corp. announced today that it has completed the sale of its hotel business to Galaxy Hotel Systems LLC for approximately US$ 1 million. “The sale of the hotel business is indicative of our intention to be a more focused company,” declared John Caldwell, Geac’s president and CEO.

CAE today concluded its US$80 million purchase of BAE SYSTEMS Flight Simulation and Training of Tampa, Florida. CAE will rename the company CAE USA Inc.