Markets were basically flat today. Investors are anxious about tomorrowÕs U.S. Federal Reserve meeting. After taking a beating in the last couple of weeks on bad earnings news, thereÕs some expectation building that there will be a rate cut somewhere between 25 and 50 basis points.

The Toronto Stock Exchange 300 composite index closed down 42 points today at 7698. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 100 points to 10504. The S&P 500 dipped seven points to 1219. The NASDAQ composite index fared better, gaining 16 points at 2051.

Action on the TSE was quiet with only 124 million shares were traded. Every sector was down on the day, except for merchandising, which advanced 0.2% and financial services which closed unchanged. Everything else was finished in the red, though nothing was off by any drastic amount. Overall, market trend was quite negative among individual issues: while 597 issues ended the day down, only 435 were up.

Metals and minerals led the way down with a 2.8% drop. Falconbridge lost 4.6%, closing at $26.50. Sherritt International lost 4.2%, closing at $5.05. The gold sector fell off 1.1%. So did the oil and gas sector. Consumer products lost 1.3%.

Among individual issues, the big mover today was Gulfstream Resources, as the take-over of the Canadian energy sector by Americans continues. Houston-based Anadarko Petroleum will acquire Gulfstream for $208 million. Over 17 million shares of Gulfstream traded, pushing the stock up 42.08% to close at $2.60.

The board of directors of Hawker Siddeley Canada announced that shareholders voted 85% in favour of liquidating the company. Shares in the company found some buyers today and the stock ended up 22.95% at 75¢.

Among tech issues, Sierra Wireless was pummelled today after the company announced that it would post a loss of 73 and 78¢ this quarter. It closed down 27,92% at $21.30 today. QLT was off 7.09% today at $27.50 on trading of almost half a million shares. No news on that.

The CDNX was also quiet today. It closed off 1.18 points at 3256 on low volume of 36 million shares. Market trend there was not as severe, though it was negativeÑ221 issues closed down while 180 were up.

The Canadian dollar had a big day. It climbed over half a cent to close up 0.58% at US65.95¢.