By James Langton

(March 14 – 09:00 ET) – Prep the emergency room, today’s open appears to be headed for a bloodbath. European traders appear to have given up on stocks, admitting that the U.S. slowdown will hit them hard, and with profits disappearing they are selling aggressively.

Profit concerns are hammering Ericsson AB, HSBC Holdings plc and Cable & Wireless plc. Profit worries are also hurting mines and other old economy firms.

Stocks are off about 4% across the board in Europe. In London, the FTSE has dropped 208 points to 5,512. In Paris, the CAC 40 is also off 208 points to 4,978. Germany’s DAX is off almost 5%, down 295 points to 5,668.

As a result U.S. futures are pointing to a more than 300 point loss on the Dow. Nasdaq futures are lock-limit down by 65 points, they can’t go lower than that before trading is halted. Oracle Corp., Cisco Systems Inc. and Intel Corp. are leading the U.S. weakness. The U.S. dollar is also weak amidst the selling.

Considering the trend in Europe, Asia held up remarkably well. The Nikkei actually closed up 24 points to 11,844. The Hang Seng dropped 162 points to 13,331.

In economic news, U.S. business inventories grew 0.4% in January and sales were unchanged.

In Canada, new motor vehicles sales slipped 0.4% in January compared with December. Economics and individual storis may not matter much if a market meltdown occurs.