By James Langton

(November 13 – 09:00 ET) – North American markets are in for another rough ride this morning, as markets selloff worldwide. Uncertainty over the United States presidential election, nervousness about a slowing economy in the U.S., and disappointing earnings from Hewlett-Packard are casting a pall over markets.

HP was supposed to release its results on Wednesday, but after determining how bad they were over the weekend, the company released them this morning. HP missed the Street’s 52¢ estimate by 11¢, although revenue grew faster than expected. The firm says it was hit by currency woes and staffing issues.

In the wake of the news, techs are down sharply in pre-open trading, particularly IBM and Intel. HP also announced that it has broken off talks to acquire the consulting unit of PricewaterhouseCoopers for as much as US$18 billion.

At this weekend’s OPEC meeting, the powerful oil cartel decided to leave output unchanged. There was some hope that production would increase once again, although expectations for softening demand had some pundits seeing production cuts. OPEC took the middle ground, suggesting cuts will come later if necessary. The price of oil rose on the news.

In the wake of all this news, European markets are down. The London’s FTSE is off 95 points to 6,305. In Paris, the CAC 40 is down 126 points to 6,021. Germany’s DAX is dropping 129 points to 6,722.

In M&A news, Smithfield Foods Inc. is offering US$4.1 billion in stock and assumed debt for IBP Inc., trumping a management buyout offer.

Weyerhaeuser has sent a letter to Willamette Industries Inc. proposing to acquire it for US$48 a share in cash, a 38 % premium. Including assumed debt of approximately US$1.7 billion, the total value of deal is about US$7 billion.

It’s also being reported that Lazard LLC chairman Michel David-Weill has offered to buy out some of the firm’s disgruntled investors for US$1.1 billion.

Overnight in Asia stocks tumbled on the heels of the Nasdaq selloff. In Japan, the Nikkei closed down 324 points to 14,665, while in Hong Kong the Hang Seng fell even harder, down 574 points to 14,816.

Proginet Corp. and SureFire Commerce Inc. have announced an agreement for Proginet to acquire a couple of SureFire’s product lines, as well as consulting services. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

Cybersurf Corp. says its board has approved a corporate reorganization, amendments to its stock option plan, and the adoption of a shareholder rights plan. The firm says the corporate reorganization is being implemented to, “create clarity regarding the fundamentally different businesses in which Cybersurf is engaged and the potential that each presents. Cybersurf believes that this corporate reorganization will result in a better recognition of the distinct values of both its Internet software development business and its free Internet service business.”