Stocks are facing a weak opening this morning. In Europe markets are down as traders fret about the profit scenario.

With no trading in the United States to reverse the trend, the negative sentiment may well carry over to Canada. Volume, however, is expected to be light.

The worry du jour is telecom giant Marconi plc. The stock of the U.K.’s largest phone equipment maker is halted this morning, ahead of an expected earnings warning. This is also hitting names such as Alcatel SA, Nokia Oyj and Ericsson AB.

Already today, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines NV has issued a warning about its profits. The FTSE is down 39 points to 5,601. The CAC 40 has dropped 50 points to 5,155. The DAX is down 35 ticks to 6,022.

Overnight in Asia, stocks were mixed. The Nikkei dropped 188 points to close at 12,629. The Hang Seng struggled to hang on to a 23 point gain, closing at 13,207.

The only economic news out today shows that the value of Canadian building permits declined slightly in May. Builders took out $3.2 billion worth of building permits, down 0.6% from April.

Building permits for housing rose 9.4% from April to $1.7 billion, halting three consecutive monthly declines. This gain in housing was not enough to make up for a decline in the non-residential sector, where the value of building intentions fell 10.6% to $1.4 billion. The decline was led by a decrease in commercial permits.

For the first five months of 2001, the value of building permits totalled $16.7 billion, up 13% from the same period in 2000. This is the highest total for any January-to-May period in the last 12 years.