Stocks are weaker today after a morning of choppy trading. The S&P/TSX index is down 35 points to 6,065. Volume is on the light side at 70 million shares, with the selling action outpacing the buying action by a margin of 34:25. Market breadth is also negative, with losers outnumbering winners, nine to seven.

Financials are the weakest sector today, following some concerns about credit quality in Europe and the health of some U.S. brokerage firms. There is also weakness in the consumer area, techs, and health care. Diversifieds are up a little, as are materials and golds.

Royal Bank is leading the way down, dropping 1.8% in active trading. However, TD Bank, Sun Life, Manulife and Bank of Montreal are all down in similar measures. The weakness began overseas with worries about European bank loan portfolios, though traders are also concerned about the brokerage business in the U.S., as corporate scandals continue to unfold.

Blue chips are generally getting whacked, with Bombardier down 6.4%. More modest slides have occurred with Alcan and Molson. Energy plays are down, with the slide being led by EnCana and Canadian 88. Techs are weaker due to Zarlink and ATI. Biovail and MDS are dragging health care stocks down. Placer Dome has the gold group lower.

Not all tech names are down. Nortel Networks is trading higher, as are
biotechs Angiotech, QLT and AnorMed.

Other gainers include beaten up blue chip names enjoying some bargain hunting action, such as BCE, Fording, CP Rail, Domtar and Nova Chemicals.

In New York, the markets have been all over the map in a choppy trade. The Dow Jones industrial average jumped as much as 150 points on some strong economic data, but at midday, it’s down 58 points to 7,699. The S&P 500 is down four points to 824. Nasdaq composite index is off 18 points to 1,169.

The weakness is also evident in small caps, with the S&P/TSX Venture index down four points to 945. Volume is also on the light side there at 11 million shares. IMA Exploration is the top trader, up 2¢ to 49¢ on 575,000 shares.