Stocks look to open sharply lower Monday ahead of the United Nations weapons inspectors’ report on Iraq due later this morning. Gold and energy shares are likely to be the only exceptions.

European stocks have plunged in midday trading, amid fears over the possible impact on the markets of a war in Iraq.

Insurance stocks were the hardest hit, with Germany’s Munich Re, France’s Axa, and Britain’s Royal & Sun Alliance all down more than 5%. Technology companies are also under pressure.

London’s FTSE 100 index is off 126 points to 3,477.7. Frankfurt’s DAX index is down 74.78 points to 2,643.04, and Paris’s CAC 40 index is down 80.27 points to 2,818.33.

Asian-Pacific shares ended sharply lower overnight on heavy selling pressure. Tokyo’s Nikkei fell 122.18 points to 8,609.47. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng fell 161.93 points to 9,298.67.

In corporate news, Onex Corp. said it has agreed to pay more than $245 million for a 35% stake in Aeroplan, Air Canada’s frequent-flyer program.
There are no major economic data releases from Statistics Canada today.

Over the weekend a new computer virus infected computers around the world, causing headaches for Canada’s banking network. Royal Bank, Bank of Montreal and CIBC reported virus-related problems on Saturday, with telephone and online baking outages and sluggish ATMs.