Wall Street and the financial world is bracing for one of the most important market days of all time. It is expected that stocks will plunge on the open, the first time they’ve had to trade since the September 11 attack on the World Trade Center. Volume is expected to be massive today, and there are fears that the market may lose about 10%.

The hope is that a patriotism-fuelled rally will stem any major losses. Assorted politicians have called on Americans to stand firm with their stocks. Assorted companies, such as Cisco and Intel, have pledged to buyback their own stock to support prices.

To help keep liquidity in the market, the U.S. Federal Reserve cut rates 50 basis points to 3.0%. It also left the door open to further cuts. The move was not unexpected by traders.

So far, European stocks are up a bit, off heavy losses on Friday. The FTSE is up 13 points to 4768. The CAC 40 has gained 26 points to 3935. The DAX, Friday’s big loser is up 55 points to 4171. The less important continental markets are all displaying their far though.

Overnight in Asia, traders were running scared ahead of the U.S. reaction. The Nikkei shed another 505 points to 9504. The Hang Seng lost 336 points to 9319.

Goldman Sachs & Co.’s market guru Abby Cohen cut her S&P 500 target, although she forsees stocks rising 15 % to 25% over the next year.

In M&A news, RWE AG, Europe’s fourth-largest power company, is buying American Water Works Inc., the biggest publicly traded U.S. water utility, for US$7.6 billion in cash and assumed debt.