Markets are rallying across the board as faith in the strength of the U.S. recovery continues to gather momentum. Traders are also anticipating a rate cut by the Bank of Canada on Tuesday.

The S&P/TSX index is 69 points higher to 8,902 at midday in a broad-based rally.

However, the strength of the rally is tempered by very low volume, suggesting that many people are on an extended Easter weekend vacation. Just 73 million shares have changed hands so far today, about half the usual midday volume. Buying outweighing selling by a 13:9 margin. And, market breadth is bullish, with winners ahead of losers by a 29:26 ratio.

Every sector, apart from real estate, is making gains. Techs are up almost 2% on general optimism. The ever higher oil prices have energy tocks up about 1.6%. There are gains in financials, materials and miners too.

Research in Motion is powering the tech group, with a 3.5% gain, albeit on weak volume. Nortel is 1.3% higher, also in light trading. Sierra Wireless has added almost 5%, and there is buying in ATI and Ballard Power.

Biotechs such as Diagnocure and Oncolytics Biotech. However, Manitoba Telecom is weighing on the telecoms, with a 0.3% slide.

Energy stocks are pretty strong across the board. EnCana is leading the way, up 1.8% in active trading. Petro-Canada is up, as is Nexen, Suncor Energy, Provident Energy, Real Resources and Viracocha Energy.

There are also strong gains in core companies such as Alcan, Barrick, Royal Bank, NA Palladium and the Saskatchewan Wheat Pool.

The only area that’s weak is real estate and REITs. Summit REIT is down 2%, as is Brookfield. There is also selling in odd names such as International Wex Tech, Forbes Medi-tech, Pan American Silver, Bema Gold, Northgate Exploration and Southwestern Resources.

In M&A news, CHUM says that it will purchase 100% of Craig Media for total cash consideration of $265 million on a debt-free basis. CHUM currently plans to finance the purchase with bank debt. CHUM is being advised by TD Securities on the acquisition. Craig Media is being advised by RBC Capital Markets.

Thomson Financial will acquire the information services division of the banking and investment group of CGI, including the Starquote software solution. The transaction is expected to close later in the second quarter. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

In earnings news, Queenstake Resources lost US$7.8 million in 2003.

In other corporate news, Indigo Books & Music has appointed David Margolis to the newly created position of president and chief operating officer.

In New York, the session is also light on volume, but long on optimism. The Dow Jones industrial average is up 72 points to 10,514. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index has added 12 ticks to 2,065.

The S&P/TSX Venture index is the only market bucking the rally, sliding 13 points to 1,872. Volume is on the light side there too, at 30.4 million shares. Spider Resources Inc. is the top trader, up a penny to 21¢ on 919,000 shares.