By James Langton

(March 16 – 17:00 ET) – Markets had a monster day today. The old economy stocks rallied heavily through the morning. The new economy techs were caught in the flurry, joining the exuberance this afternoon to post gains of their own. The TSE 300 finished the day up 194 points to 9,488. Volume was strong at 222.7 million shares, 3:1 in favour of buyers. Advancers trumped decliners 7:5.

In New York, the action was even hotter. The Dow posted its biggest point gain ever, closing up an incredible 499 points to 10,630. The previous biggest one-day point gain was a 380-point day after the Asian crisis. Over the past two days the Dow grew 8%, its biggest two-day gain since the Crash of 1987. The NYSE also managed a single-day volume record with 1.48 billion shares, surpassing the previous record of 1.35 billion.

As traders bid back the beaten down cyclicals they are not doing it at the expense of the techs. The Nasdaq closed up 135 points to 4,717 after languishing for much of the morning. The Nasdaq traded over 2 billion shares. The S&P finished the day up 66 points to 1,459. These gains came even after this mornings U.S. Producer Price Index was released, indicating inflation.However, the PPI core rate was on consensus and traders seemed to take comfort in the divergence. Tomorrow the all important Consumer Price Index will add another piece to the inflation picture — ahead of next Tuesday’s U.S. Federal Reserve Board meeting.

On the TSE every group finished higher apart from the golds and utilities. Conglomerates added almost 5%. Financials, merchandisers, miners and real estate were all up more than 4%.

Transports were the strongest single subgroup, adding more than 9% on the day. Laidlaw was the hot ticket of the day once again, up 21% on 20.8 million shares. The insurers led the financials up, followed closely by strong banks.

Manulife led the insurers, closing up almost 6% on 2.8 million shares. Fairfax gained more than 16%, albeit on much lighter volume. TD Bank added 4% and Scotia was up 5% in heavy trading.

Software was among the handful of subgroups that didn’t manage to close positively, led by slides in Certicom, Cognos, Basis 100 and Tundra Semiconductor. But on behalf of the techs, Nortel Networks managed to close up 3% on 2.7 million shares traded. That gave some hope to other techs that have taken beating lately. JDS Uniphase, Research in Motion and Ballard Power also all erased big losses, booking big gains instead. RIM had a huge day, closing up 17%.

The CDNX had a decent day, but nothing like the rampage seen elsewhere. The index finished up 57 points to 4,352. Volume was average at 97.1 million shares. Techs actually led the way on the CDNX, up 2.6%. Miners were up notably too, while energy stocks lagged. Petra Resources Corp traded 4.2 million shares, closing up more than 80%.