Markets dropped at the open, as expected, but by midday they appear to have stabilized. Central banks in the U.S., Canada and Europe co-ordinated a 50 basis-point rate rate cut which has helped to soothe the markets and keep them from dropping further.

At midday, the Dow Jones industrials average is down 503 points to 9101, but that is up from an early 600-point loss. The Nasdaq composite index is down 78 points to 1617. The S&P has dropped 42 points to 1050. The 4% to 5% losses were expected, though there were fears of a 10% drop.

Trading has been orderly, although airlines and insurers are taking big hits and are selling aggressively.

The action in the U.S. has been met with strength in other markets. Brazil’s Bovespa bounced 5% on seeing the U.S. resilience. The FTSE in London gained 101 points to 4857. The Paris CAC 40 added 106 points to 4016. The German DAX is up 170 points to 4286. The minor continental markets all posted gains too.

In Toronto, the TSE 300 composite index is up about 1%, gaining 77 points to 6967. Volume has been strong at 91.5 million shares. The index is on track for a record volume day. Volume is favouring buyers over sellers by 10:7 in Toronto. Winners outnumber losers 9:8.

There are big gains in tech hardware, and throughout the industrials today. Financials, real estate, utilities, merchandisers and conglomerates are all bouncing off recent losses. Golds are weak today, dropping 4.25% and transports are down too, but most everything else is up.

The financials are trading heavily today. Manulife is one of the leading movers, down 0.8% on heavy volume. Canada Life is weak on active volume too. Fairfax is sliding notably. But the banks are rebounding. CIBC is up better than 1%, supported by even stronger gains in Royal Bank and Bank of Nova Scotia.

There are also gains in beaten up blue-chip names, led by Bombardier, Magna, Anderson, and Nortel Networks. Other techs making gains include C-Mac, BCE Emergis, Microcell, Zarlink, Research in Motion, Celestica and Ballard Power.

On the downside, Barrick is leading the way as investors creep out of their hiding places among gold stocks. Other losers include Glamis Gold, Placer Dome, Kinross, Agnico Eagle and Franco Nevada. Names such as CAE and ATI are down too.

The CDNX is sliding today too, down 44 points to 2837. Volume is light at 10.5 million shares. Techs are down 2%, and energy stocks are off 1.5%. Miners are down a bit too. Engineering.com is the top trader, down 52% to 50¢ on 400,000 shares.

In business news today, CanWest Global Communications announced that it has elected to temporarily suspend the semi-annual dividend of 15¢ to give it additional financial flexibility and accelerate debt reduction. It is also killing Saturday Night magazine and will cut approximately 120 jobs at the
newspaper.