(April 18 – 13:00 ET) – A surprise 50 basis point rate cut by the U.S. Federal Reserve Board has sparked a heavy rally. At midday, the TSE 300 is up 324 points to 8,143.

Volume is strong at 106 million shares. Buying is outweighing the selling, more than five to one. Winners outnumber the losers 13 to six.

Every TSE sub-index is up, apart from oil and gas. Energy stocks are down slightly, possibly as investors cash their oil stocks to buy techs and everything else that’s on a rocket ride upward. The buying looks pretty indiscriminate, although the beaten down techs are certainly the biggest beneficiary, up a staggering 12% at midday. Miners are up 3.6%, utilities have gained 2.6%, with 2% gains in conglomerates and financials.

Traders have so far ignored the real fear for the economy that the Fed’s move would seem to indicate. But nevermind, no one wants to fight the Fed today.

Nortel Networks is the big winner, gaining about 17% on huge volume of 12.3 million shares. The Fed rate cut seems to be the only real news on the stock. Massive rallies are being enjoyed in a host of techs. Research in Motion is up 27%; Pivotal gained 25%; JDS Uniphase has added 20%. Other winners include Centricity, Certicom, Mosaid, Exfo Electro, and Tundra Semiconductor.

Celestica is enjoying the rally too, up 28%, although it has specific news of its own to justify a bounce. The firm’s first-quarter profit beat analyst estimates with net earnings of $87.3 million, or 39¢ a share, compared with 20¢ a share in the period last year. This is sparking a massive rally in the stock, despite the fact that the company said it will cut 3,100 jobs, about 10% of its workforce. It has refused to provide guidance for the rest of the year because of uncertainty among its customers.

The banks are the other obvious beneficiary of the surprise rate cutting action. Financials are booming. TD Bank is leading the way, up 4% on 3.3 million shares. CIBC and Scotia are hot on its heels. The big insurers are all up, as are most of the fund companies.

There are actually a few stocks that are slumping today, despite the frenzied rally. Losers include Emco, Centrefund Realty, Telesystem Wireless, Richelieu Hardware, Anderson Exploration and Acetex.

In other business news, Enbridge Inc. and Suncor Energy Inc. announced they will spend $30 million to develop a wind-powered generation project in Gull Lake, about 300 km west of Regina.

In New York, stocks opened higher on their own and then the Fed delivered its gift. The Dow Jones industrial average is up 420 points at midday to 10637, on its way to one of its biggest point gains ever. The Nasdaq Composite is even stronger, up 9%, or 171 points to 2.094. The S&P 500 has added 50 points to 1,241.

The CDNX is enjoying a relatively modest gain, up just 25 points to 3,011. Volume is strong at 19.8 million shares. Techs are rallying, as are oils. Mines are flat. Wavve TeleCommunications is the top trader again today, up 22% to 33¢ on volume of almsot 2.2 million shares.