By James Langton

(October 25 – 10:00 ET) – The TSE 300 opened down more than 800 points this morning after last night’s the fall of Nortel shares. If it drops 1,100 trading will be halted for an hour.

The tech sector has dropped 10%. TSE policy dictates that it co-ordinate with U.S. markets when “circuit breakers” are invoked. The circuit breaker trigger points are set at three fluctuating levels representing 10%, 20% and 30% of the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

The levels are calculated by the NYSE at the beginning of each calendar quarter, using the average closing value of the DJIA for the preceding month. Each trigger is rounded to the nearest 50 points.

Effective October 2, fourth quarter trading halts will be triggered when the TSE declines below its closing value on the previous trading day by. A Level 1 halt before 14:00 ET shuts trading for one hour.

Nortel Networks fell as much as 23% in after-hours trading, last night, after it disappointed the Street with its revenue report.

JDS Uniphase is down about 15% too. Other tech beacons such as Cisco and Alcatel figure to be slammed by Nortel’s drop. But there’s a little good news from the networking giant this morning. Xfera has signed a US$935 million wireless internet deal with Nortel.

Nortel is certainly going to be the index story on the open, but there is other news at play too in the broader market.

In Canada today, markets will be watching a $2.4 billion auction of 10-year bonds. The Leading Indicator for September was release. It was expected to rise 0.4%, but it actually rose 0.6%. Seven of the 10 components advanced, one more than in August, led by household spending. There’s no real economic data out in the U.S. today.

Relative calm in the Middle East is subduing any flight to safety. In Europe stocks are getting slammed, more or less on the heels of Nortel. London’s FTSE is down 82 points to 6356. The Paris CAC 40 is off 91 to 6232. The German DAX is down 73 points to 6729.

The other big business news is that AT&T Corp. will split into four separate companies in 2002 to try to boost shareholder value. The Wall Street Journal is reporting that AT&T’S board has approved a proposal to keep itscore consumer long-distance and business services together, creating new firms for cable and wireless services, which wouldeventually be spun off.

Overnight in Asia stocks were mixed. The Nikkei was battered by its techs, closing off 308 points to 14840. The Hang Seng though bounced off yesterday’s weakness, closing up 135 points to 15061.

In earnings news, Shell Canada Limited announced today third-quarter earnings of 82¢ per share compared to 50¢ for the third quarter of 1999. Lorus Therapeutics Inc. announced for the first quarter ended August 31, it incurred a loss of 2¢ per share, a wider loss than last year.Future Shop Ltd. says its net earnings increased to 17¢ per share, compared to 12¢ during same quarter last year.