European stocks fall for fourth day after GE shock

PARIS (Reuters) - European stocks ended down 1.5 percent on Friday as a profit warning by General Electric (GE.N) rattled investors and cemented the view that the U.S. economy was tipping into recession.

The FTSEurofirst 300 .FTEU3 index of top European shares unofficially closed 1.5 percent lower at 1,284.55 points, its lowest close since March 31 and its fourth negative session in a row.

Friday's decline was the market's biggest one-day drop since mid-March and the index ended the week with a loss of 2.6 percent.

"GE's results confirm our view that the consensus is still way too high for 2008 and that forecast downgrades will continue, and dampen the market's recent enthusiasm," said Romain Boscher, head of equity management at Groupama Asset Management, in Paris.

Industrial stocks took a beating, with Siemens (SIEGn.DE) losing 3.4 percent.

But UK telecom group Vodafone (VOD.L) was the biggest laggard among Europe's blue chips, down 4.3 percent. Morgan Stanley analysts said the stock did not appeal to them compared with KPN (KPN.AS), TeliaSonera (TLSN.ST) or France Telecom (FTE.PA) after meeting EU officials on routing costs.

Stocks also got hit by data showing that U.S. consumer confidence fell to its lowest in more than a quarter century in early April.

The Reuters/University of Michigan Surveys of Consumers said its preliminary index of confidence fell to 63.2 in April from 69.5 in March. This was well below economists' median

expectation of a reading of 69.0, according to a Reuters poll.

(Reporting by Blaise Robinson)