Stocks are weak again today, as economic pessimism casts a pall over corporate earnings. At midday, the TSE 300 is down 78 points to 8,050.

Volume is soft, but not unusual for a Monday morning, at just 62 million shares. The selling volume has an almost three to one edge over buying. Losers outnumber winners about 11 seven.

On a sector basis, techs are particularly weak, down about 4.3%, at the hands of Nortel Networks. Miners are also weak, as are golds, media stocks and conglomerates.

Financials are down a little bit. Fears that corporate profits may languish all year seem to be behind the broad-based slide. Energy stocks are one bright spot, as are paper stocks and real estate.

Gulf Canada continues to trade heavily, moving about 10.3 million shares today. It’s down just 4¢.

Nortel Networks is the real leader this morning, though. Negative sentiment is building behind this stock, with poor forecasts at Juniper Networks dragging down the sector, and disillusionment with Nortel specifically hurting the stock. Nortel is down to another fresh low, off almost 5% on 4.2 million shares.

360networks continues to grind toward oblivion in active trading. Nortel acolytes such as C-MAC, JDS Uniphase, Exfo Electro, Research in Motion and Celestica are sliding notably. The old economy names such as Barrick Gold, Teck and Centrefund are down, too.

On the upside, names such as Hudson’s Bay are up, as are beaten up names such as Certicom and ATI. Abitibi is leading the paper stocks higher. Other winners include Barrington Petroleum, Gennum, CFM Majestic, Calpine, Enerflex, First Service, AnorMed and Aeterna.

There’s not much business news out today. Canadian Pacific Railway reports that it has established an investor relations group in preparation for CPR’s planned spinoff this fall from CP, subject to shareholder approval.

Also, CAE’s Forestry Systems’ wood products group has sold advanced technological sawmill equipment to West Fraser Mills and to Buchanan Forest Products. The optimization equipment will help customers increase their recovery of fibre and is valued at $12 million.

In the U.S., markets are weak. An unexpected drop in Japanese GDP is weighing on traders. The Dow Jones industrial average is down 83 points to 10,894. The Nasdaq composite index has dropped 57 points to 2,157. The S&P 500 is down 13 points to 1,252.

The CDNX is weak today as well, dropping 26 points to 3,373. Volume is strong at 19.3 million shares. Techs are leading the way down, but mines and oils are offering minimal resistance. Dominion International Investments is the top trader, up 7% to 15¢ on 672,100 shares.