LIVE MARKETS-What we're watching before Europe's opening bell

* European stock futures down 1 pct

* Eyes on Chinese response to Trump tariffs

March 23 - Welcome to the home for real-time coverage of European equity markets brought to

you by Reuters stocks reporters and anchored today by Danilo Masoni. Reach him on Messenger to

share your thoughts on market moves: danilo.masoni.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net

WHAT WE'RE WATCHING BEFORE EUROPE'S OPENING BELL (0755 GMT)

European shares are set to fall close to their early March lows with the mounting trade war

jitters pushing futures on main euro zone benchmarks down around 1 percent.

Remaining above those levels may indicate that the level of concern is still contained.

"We do not expect a full-blown trade war, but the risk of escalation may lead to bouts of

risk aversion in financial markets," said Credit Suisse (IOB: 0QP5.IL - news) in its investment daily.

Futures on the UK's FTSE index, which yesterday ended at a 15 month low, were down 0.5

percent.

The trade war concerns are likely to result in a broad based sell-off, leaving little room

for single stock movers.

On the corporate arena, traders said German sports wear group Adidas (IOB: 0OLD.IL - news) could find support in a

better than expected trading update from U.S. rival Nike (Sao Paolo: NIKE34.SA - news) , while shares in specialty

pharmaceutical company Indivior (Frankfurt: 2IVA.F - news) are called down 5 to 20 percent following an adverse ruling in a

patent infringement litigation case.

Next (Frankfurt: 779551 - news) shares are seen gaining after it kept profit guidance unchanged in its annual

results. A trader summarises the sentiment: "No profit warning, decent short interest, and peers

have been weak".

Investors will also keep an eye on Italian stocks as its new parliament convenes to vote for

their speakers, while Spain will also be watched ahead of a possible sovereign rating upgrade by

S&P after the marker closes today.

Stock movers: E.ON, RWE (IOB: 0FUZ.IL - news) have no merger plans - CEOs in German paper; Novartis (IOB: 0QLR.IL - news) touts U.S.

filing plans for MS drug as patent losses loom; Deutsche Bank (IOB: 0H7D.IL - news) to reap $1.7 bln from asset

management IPO; Telecom Italia pre-empts Elliott with board resignations; Enel (LSE: 0NRE.L - news) ordinary net

profit beats guidance

(Danilo Masoni)

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EURO ZONE STOCK FUTURES DOWN MORE THAN 1 PERCENT (0722 GMT)

Futures for the German, French and Spanish stock benchmarks are pointing to losses of more

than 1 percent, although it looks like the scale of the losses will not be enough to push them

below the lows hit during the late February sell-off.

DAX futures, for example, are now down 1.3 percent. That would bring the German benchmark to

11,940 points, still above its most recent low. An earlier indication from CMC Markets (LSE: CMCX.L - news) of a 200

points opening loss would still keep the DAX above that low.

Meanwhile FTSE futures are down 0.7 percent.

(Danilo Masoni)

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EUROPEAN EARLY MORNING HEADLINE ROUNDUP (0641 GMT)

Here are you top early morning headlines, although trade war jitters will likely cause a

broad sell-off today, leaving little space for single stock movers.

E.ON, RWE have no merger plans - CEOs in German paper

Novartis touts U.S. filing plans for MS drug as patent losses loom

Deutsche Bank to reap $1.7 bln from asset management IPO

Dutch wholesaler B&S shares priced at 14.50 euros in IPO

Dutch NIBC bank shares priced at 8.75 euros in initial public offering

Telecom Italia (Amsterdam: TI6.AS - news) pre-empts Elliott with board resignations

Credit Suisse CEO pay falls in 2017

Adidas rival Nike forecasts reversal in N. America sales decline, tops estimates

Enel ordinary net profit beats guidance

Swiss watchmakers make up for lost time as China sales tick higher

EU leaders tell social networks to guarantee users' privacy

EU plans tougher consumer laws for Facebook (NasdaqGS: FB - news) , Gmail

(Danilo Masoni)

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MORNING CALL: DAX SEEN LOSING 200 POINTS AT THE OPEN (0616 GMT)

The sell-off seen yesterday in Europe on mounting worries that U.S. tariffs on China imports

could escalate into a full-blown trade war is set to continue today with the same intensity.

Trump signed a presidential memorandum on Thursday that could impose tariffs on up to $60

billion of imports from China, although the measures have a 30-day consultation period.

All eyes are now on the response from China, which urged the U.S. on Friday to "pull back

from the brink", and unveiled its own plans on Friday to impose tariffs on up to $3 billion of

U.S. imports.

Raboank Senior Asia-Pacific Strategist Michael Every said China's retaliation measures so

far are mild: "Is China acting dovish to try to negotiate its way out? Is it waiting to pounce

at a future date on US aviation and agri exports? Or does it have far less trade leverage than

many had assumed?"

"Note (Stockholm: NOTE.ST - news) that the soybean market has not reacted significantly. That points to something also

stressed in the special report: China would shoot itself in the foot by boycotting US soy, as it

would force food-price inflation through the roof," he said.

Meanwhile in Asian hours, the rumblings of a global trade war shook stock and currency

markets, sending MSCI (Frankfurt: 3HM.F - news) broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan down

fell more than two percent.

Here are your morning calls for Europe, courtesy of CMC Markets.

FTSE100 is expected to open 67 points lower at 6,885

DAX is expected to open 200 points lower at 11,900

CAC40 is expected to open 77 points lower at 5,090

(Danilo Masoni)

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(Reporting by Danilo Masoni)