North American markets are closed this morning in the wake of yesterday’s massive terrorist attack in downtown New York.

Overnight markets generally plunged on the news of the incident. In Japan, the Nikkei crashed 6.6% or 683 points to 9,610. The Hang Seng plummeted 924 points to close at 9,494.

In Europe, markets are mixed this morning after sustaining heavy losses yesterday. The DAX has dropped 66 points to 4,207. The CAC 40 is down 55 points to 4,004. The FTSE is holding up, gaining 45 points to 4,791.

Bloomberg is reporting that the central banks in Europe and Japan have pumped US$80 billion into the money markets to ensure that the market has sufficient liquidity. Some are expecting interest rate cuts soon, too. This action is supporting the U.S. dollar.

Insurers are already beginning to add up the damages from yesterday’s attack. Swiss Reinsurance Co. said its exposure may be about US$720 million.

In other business news, acquisition talks began between Continental AG, the world’s fourth largest tiremaker, and Carlyle Group Inc. concerning Carlyle’s ContiTech unit.

In economic news, Statistics Canada reports that industrial capacity utilization rates fell for the fourth consecutive quarter to 83.2% in the second quarter of 2001. The rate was down 0.4% compared with the first three months of the year.

As in the first quarter, the decline in the rate was largely due to falling demand for telecommunications equipment but was smaller than in the first quarter. The second-quarter decline was slowed by a sharp increase in mining production and an upturn in the automotive industries.