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European markets decline
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January 7, 2002: 5:04 a.m. ET
Vivendi tumbles after selling share worth $3.3 billion, eyes on AOL
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LONDON (CNN) - European bourses fell on Monday, led by media stocks as Vivendi Universal said it would sell shares to cut debt.
Vivendi, Europe's biggest media company, has mandated Deutsche Bank and Goldman Sachs to sell 55 million of its treasury shares, raising at least  3.3 billion. Vivendi (PEX) fell 3.6 percent.
Other media and Internet stocks were under pressure ahead of a conference call later on Monday by U.S. bellwether AOL Time Warner. Analysts expect AOL to tone down its 2002 outlook.
London's FTSE 100 fell 0.5 percent to 5,299.5 and the CAC 40 blue chip index in Paris lost 0.25 percent to 4,670.36, while Frankfurt's electronically traded Xetra Dax dropped 0.2 percent to 5,309.4.
The pan-European FTSE Eurotop 300, a broader index of the region's largest stocks, was up 0.3 percent, with the media sector down more than 2 percent.
Pearson (PSON), the owner of the Financial Times, fell 3.2 percent and Europe's second-largest pay-TV operator British Sky Broadcasting (BSY) dropped 2.8 percent.
DaimlerChrysler (DCX), the world's third-biggest automaker by revenue, fell 1.1 percent after it said it expected to sell 15.5 million vehicles in the United States in 2002 - representing a decline of 10 percent.
BMW (FBMW), the German luxury car maker, lost 2.4 percent, topping the loser board in Frankfurt.
The airline sector was having a mixed session. KLM, Europe's fourth-largest airline, rose 1.9 percent after saying it was close to an agreement with British Airways to co-ordinate Middle Eastern services to stem losses.
British Airways (BAY), Europe's biggest, lost 2.4 percent while rival Lufthansa (FLHA) climbed 3.9 percent.
In Amsterdam, the AEX index rose 0.7 percent and the SMI in Zurich climbed 0.4 percent, while Milan's MIB30 index advanced 0.6 percent.
In the U.S. on Friday, major U.S. stock indicies jumped to their highest levels in more than four months after data showing a sharp slowdown in job cuts signalled that the recession's worst days may be over.
The Nasdaq composite index rose 0.7 percent to 2,059.38, while the Dow Jones industrial average gained 87.6 points, or 0.9 percent, to 10,259.74 
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