Wall Street futures are sharply lower and European indexes have slipped in early action Monday.

In economic news, Manufacturing activity in New York declined somewhat in the last month, but remained at a level indicating robust growth.

The New York Federal Reserve’s Empire State Manufacturing Survey showed factory activity in the district slipped to 30.21 in May from the 34.03 reading in April. Nonetheless, that marked the 13th straight month of positive readings. The index had set a record high of 42.05 in February.

Economists had expected a reading of 34.5.

In business news, the Canadian Autoworkers union says it won’t ask any of its 4,700 members at insolvent Air Canada to concede what amounts to $10,000 in annual wage cuts. The CAW’s Gary Fane said Monday the airline still wants millions of dollars in concessions from the union, even after the CAW last year signed off on $164 million worth of cuts and 2,000 layoffs.

In this morning’s earnings news, British Airways PLC said that better than expected savings from its cost reduction program helped lift full-year profits by 81%. But it also warned that rising oil prices would drive up costs.

Alliance Atlantis Communications Inc. said this morning that it is delaying the release of its latest financial results while it reviews them in light of the firm’s withdrawal from entertainment production to focus on distribution. A new date for the release of figures covering an abbreviated fiscal year ended Dec. 31, 2003, and the three months ended March 31 “will be scheduled and confirmed as soon as possible,” Alliance said Monday in a release.

European markets are lower on concerns about Iraq after the head of the Iraqi Governing Council was killed in a car bomb in Baghdad.

In Paris, the CAC 40 Index is off 0.3% lower at 3,603.26, while Frankfurt’s Xetra is down 0.6% at 3,803.10.

London’s FTSE 100 has fallen down 1.8% to 4,364.70, with investors remaining on edge as crude oil hit fresh highs and the market remained on inflation alert.

Asian markets tumbled overnight.

Stocks in India plummeted, recording their biggest single-day drop ever and prompting regulators to suspend trading twice during the day.

The benchmark index of the Bombay Stock Exchange closed 11.1% lower at 4505.16.

Investors in India panicked about the economic policies of the incoming communist-supported government of Sonia Gandhi.

Tokyo’s Nikkei plummeted 344.58 points, or 3.18%, to 10,505.05.

In Hong Kong, the main Hang Seng Index lost 309.21 points, or 2.74%, to 10,967.65.

On Friday, North American stock indexes wrapped us a losing week on concerns over interest rates and record oil prices.

The S&P/TSX composite stock index closed up 11.47 points to 8,188.08, helped by gains in the energy and gold sectors. For the week, the Canadian benchmark index was down 86.71 points, or 1%.

The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index edged up 2.33 points to 1,548.48.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average was 2.13 points higher at 10,012.87, but down 104 points on the week.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index surrendered 21.78 points to 1,904.25, off 13.71 points on the week. The S&P 500 index dipped 0.74 to 1,095.70.