Euro stocks slide on Motorola

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LONDON, England (CNN) -- European markets accelerated losses Monday afternoon after Motorola cut its sales and earnings forecast.

London's FTSE 100 slipped 0.8 percent to 4,118.1 and Frankfurt's Xetra Dax dropped 1.2 percent to 3,089.68, while the CAC 40 blue chip index in Paris also dipped 1.2 percent to 3,056.56. The pan-European FTSE Eurotop 300, a broader index of the region's largest stocks, was down 1.1 percent.

Motorola (MOT), the world's No. 2 mobile phone maker, cut is second-quarter sales and earnings estimates because phone sales in Asia declined due to the SARS outbreak. (Full story)

Nokia (NOK), the world's biggest mobile phone maker, slid 3 percent to 15.09 euros. The company is expected to update investors on how its second-quarter trading is progressing on Tuesday.

A weak dollar and rising competition is expected to force Nokia to narrow or cut sales and earnings forecasts. A Reuters poll of 19 analysts showed an average earnings per share estimate of 0.14 euros, with sales seen at 7.1 billion euros.

Philips Electronics, Europe's biggest consumer electronics company, fell 3.2 percent to 17.99 euros. Telecom equipment makers Alcatel (PCS) declined 3.3 percent to 7.95 euros and Siemens (FSIE) lost 2.5 percent to 42.29 euros.

Britain's BAE Systems (BA-) soared 6 percent to 157 pence, hitting a new high for the year after saying it had rejected a merger offer from French defense electronics firm Thales. Thales rose 1.1 percent to 24.81 euro.

Markets in Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland are closed for a holiday.

In the U.S. on Friday, stocks ended mixed as investors were unable to fight off urges to take profits after an early rally on a better-than-expected jobs report and a takeover bid of PeopleSoft by business software maker Oracle.

The Nasdaq composite slipped 1.1 percent, the S&P 500 index lost 0.2 percent but the Dow Jones industrial average managed to eke out a small gain of 0.2 percent.

Wall Street was expected to open lower later on Monday.

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