By James Langton

(December 13 – 13:10 ET) – Investors are in a selling mood, ignoring the apparent resolution to the U.S. election. At midday the TSE 300 is down 182 points to 9,160.

There’s been enormous volume on the TSE today at 183.1 million shares. The volume is thanks to some massive trading in Mackenzie Financial, which moved 49 million shares this morning, and TD Bank which moved 24 million shares.

Both trades were done in huge blocks crossed by National Bank Financial, indicating that TD may be Mackenzie’s white knight. There’s no word from the companies yet. There’s also huge volume on Dundee Bancorp and C.I. Fund Management Inc.

There has been unusually heavy volume in CanWest Global, which has moved more than 12 million shares. Nortel Networks, BCE and Celestica are enjoying unusually heavy volume, too.

In the heat of all the action, the Toronto market is falling. Losers outnumber winners more than five to four.

Every sub-index on the TSE is down apart from the utilities. Techs are down heaviest, off 4%, with a big slide in consumer stocks. too. Gold and real estate, usually safe havens, are also down sharply.

Nortel Networks is down about 5%, after Compaq’s earnings warning took a bite out of the techs. This morning’s U.S. retail sales numbers showed real weakness in that economy, sparking some fears that the Fed has been too tight, too long.

A slew of M&A rumours surrounding Nortel rival Lucent are also impacting the stock. Nokia and Alcatel are tipped as possible bidders for Lucent, although there’s been no confirmation from the companies.

Following Nortel down are a slew of techs, including Celestica, Research in Motion, Janna, Alcatel, Ballard Power, C-MAC, and biotechs, NPS Allelix and QLT.

Mackenzie is down just 5¢ on its huge volume. TD Bank is off 4%. Dundee is down 2.5% on 5 million shares and C.I. has dropped 1.3% on 4.2 million shares.

The upside today is coming in names such as BCE, Rogers, Cogeco and Alliance Atlantis. Old economy names, Dofasco and Northstar Energy are up, too.

In business news, Chapters Inc. is calling on its shareholders to reject the takeover bid from rival Indigo through Trilogy Retail Enterprises.

Noranda Inc. says it will buy a 75% stake in Australia’s Lady Loretta zinc project for $17 million, to move into the Asia-Pacific region.

EXFO Electro-Optical Engineering Inc. says it will invest $20 million to triple its manufacturing capacity.

In New York, trading is active. The Dow Jones industrial average is up 80 points to 10,847 on news of the apparent Bush win.

The Nasdaq composite has dropped 37 points to sit at 2,895. The S&P 500 is up two points to 1,373.

The CDNX is seeing active trading as well. It is down 13 to 2,900 on volume of 23 million shares. Techs are leading the way down, despite gains in mines and oils. Planet Organic is the top trader up 10% to 22¢ on 2.5 million shares.