Toronto stocks are sliding Wednesday, due to a continuing retreat by technology shares. The S&P/TSX composite index is down 20 points at midday to 8,604.

The economic data this morning was mixed, as Canada’s manufacturing shipments were reported weaker for November. In the U.S. housing starts remained strong, but, longer term, some market watchers are worried about the Bush government’s lack of attention to its’ deficit.

Toronto volume remains heavy at 216.9 million shares, with buying ahead of the selling by a margin of 58:45. Market breadth is marginally bearish however, with losers outnumbering winners 57:55.

Tech stocks are leading the way down today, dropping 2.6%, as traders continue to take their profits after a strong run up in many of these stocks. Also, there’s some negative news from Motorola and AMD in the U.S., weighing on the sector generally. Industrials, miners and golds are modestly weaker, too.

Energy stocks are holding up, as are telecoms and utilities. But nothing is moving that convincingly in either direction, apart from tech.

Nortel is leading the tech slide, down another 3.3% at midday. Volume remains very strong at 26.1 million shares. Traders are souring on the sector more than the stock.

There is also compelling weakness in Research in Motion, which is down 2.3%, following the close of its previously announced public offering for total proceeds of approximately US$907,074,000. The offering was book-run by Lehman Brothers Inc. and Merrill Lynch & Co., and managed by Goldman Sachs & Co., UBS Investment Bank, Banc of America Securities LLC, BMO Nesbitt Burns, CIBC World Markets, GMP Securities Ltd., Canaccord Capital Corp., National Bank Financial Inc., Orion Securities Inc., RBC Dominion Securities Inc., Scotia Capital Inc., SG Cowen Securities Corp. and TD Securities Inc.

Elsewhere in the group, Celestica is down 4.4%. There is also weakness in Tundra Semi, Sierra Wireless, Mitec and JDS Uniphase.

BCE is propping up the telecom group, however, gaining 2% in active trading.

The financials are mixed once again today. TD Bank is the weak sister in the sector, down 1.7% after its’ CEO, Ed Clark declared the deal with E*Trade definitively dead. Bank of Montreal is down a little, too. However, Sun Life, Manulife, Royal Bank, CIBC and Scotia are all up. The banks are only up a little though, the insurers are much stronger.

Brokerage firm Northern Financial is much higher in heavy trading, although there’s no news on the firm. Rockwater Capital is ahead 3.3%.

Elsewhere, there are signs of recovery in blue chip names such as Alcan, Abitibi and Molson. There are gains in names such as Tahera, Algoma Steel, Petrokazakhstan, First Quantum and Inex Pharma.

CAE is up 6% on news that NHIndustries has selected the CAE-Thales Training & Simulation team as the preferred bidder to provide a range of NH-90 helicopter training systems throughout Europe in a program valued at approximately $650 million.

On the downside, apart from tech, there is weakness in CN Rail, Eldorado Gold, Inmet Mining and ConjuChem.

Air Canada is down 5.4%. And, WestJet is 5% lower after it announced fourth quarter net earnings of $12.8 million, up from net earnings of $9.3 million in the same period in 2002.

In other earnings news, Corby Distilleries’ net earnings for the quarter ended Nov. 30, 2003, amounted to $11 million, compared with $8.5 million for the corresponding period last year.

IPC Financial Network Inc said that it managed to earn $155,331 in its’ fiscal first quarter.

In New York, stocks are little changed at midday. The Dow Jones industrial average has gained just 11 points to 10,540, as traders wade through lots of earnings news. However, the Nasdaq composite index is undergoing a tech slide, too, down 20 points to 2128.

The S&P/TSX Venture index has managed a four point gain to sit at 1,799. Volume is still strong at 48.2 million shares, led by ZAQ Inc. It is up another 5¢ to 82¢ on 3.6 million shares traded.