Stocks are weak this morning as traders have seen evidence of economic fallout from September 11.

Fear of ongoing terrorist attacks is also weakening the market, as news of an anthrax victim from NBC News in New York was announced on the heels of yesterday’s broad warning from the FBI. The New York Times building has also been shut down while police investigate a threat and a suspicious package.

At midday, the TSE 300 is down 86 points to 6,974. Volume is average at 90 million shares, with sellers outpacing buyers 5:3. Losers hold a similar edge on winners.

On a sector basis, golds are up about 3%. Every other sector is down. Energy, paper, transports, and financials are all down sharply. But there’s also plenty of weakness in other sectors across the board.

Energy stocks remain among the biggest traders today. Canadian Hunter is trading actively but with little price action. Recent gainers Husky Energy and Pan Canadian Energy are surrendering some of their previous profits.

But the weakness is pretty broad. Financials are down, led by the banks. Royal Bank is off by 1.7% in active trading. There are also losses in Sherritt, Norske Skog, Air Canada, Methanex, Tembec, Telus, Molson, CP Ships and Dupont.

Celestica is down among the techs, but techs are actually slightly up thanks to strength in the networkers, as led by Nortel Networks. Sierra Wireless, Derlan and BCE Emergis are also up, too.

Golds are making gains obviously as investors flee to safety. Placer Dome, Meridian Gold, Goldcorp, Barrick and Franco- Nevada are all up.

In business news, St Lawrence Cement Group Inc. has signed an agreement with Lafarge SA to acquire 100% of the shares of two Ontario companies. The purchase price is approximately $75 million, which includes an amount for working capital.

Brascan has entered into an agreement to purchase a hydroelectric generating and transmission system in northern Maine from Great Northern Paper Inc. for US$156.5 million.

In New York, stocks are down primarily on the uncertainty surrounding possible anthrax attacks. The Dow is down 162 points to 9.249. The Nasdaq has lost 32 points to 1,669. The S&P 500 has dropped 18 points to 1,079.

The CDNX is down today too, dropping 16 points to 2,864. Volume is average at 15 million shares. Techs are leading the way down, off 2%. Miners are weak, and oils are up. Apsley Management Group is the top trader, unchanged at 25$ on almost 1.7 million shares.