Bookies see Europe stocks falling as Wall St plunges

PARIS, Nov 20 (Reuters) - Financial bookmakers expect to see the leading European benchmark indexes dropping on Thursday, tracking a plunge on Wall Street and in Asia as economic fears escalated.

Spreadbetters are looking for London's FTSE .FTSE to open down 82 to 87 points, or as much as 2.2 percent, Frankfurt's DAX .GDAXI to lose 89 to 91 points, or as much as 2.1 percent, and Paris' CAC 40 .FCHI to drop 70 to 73 points, or as much as 2.4 percent in early trade. U.S. stocks plunged to their lowest in five-and-a-half years on Wednesday as investors girded for a lengthy economic downturn and automotive executives predicted a far-reaching calamity without a government lifeline.

The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI tumbled 427.47 points, or 5.07 percent, while the Standard & Poor's 500 Index .SPX fell 6.1 percent and the Nasdaq Composite Index .IXIC lost 6.5 percent.

(Reporting by Blaise Robinson)