North American markets are lower at midday, with investors showing their disappointment with Cisco Systems’ cautious forecast.

Cisco reported a 41% gain in fiscal fourth-quarter profit late Tuesday, but warned that it is taking a cautious view of technology spending in the months ahead.

In Toronto, the Toronto’s S&P/TSX composite index is down 49.47 points at 8,181.79, with technology stocks off 3.42%.

Nortel Networks shares have slipped 16¢ to $4.58.

Other tech decliners included Sierra Wireless $3.97 or 10.7% to $33.00, ATI Technologies, 55¢ to $18.62 and Celestica $1.29 to $19.79.

Telcoms are also weak with shares in Telus off 54¢ cents to $25.18.

The TSX gold sector is down 1.46%, as the price of gold declined US$5.70 to US$394.20 an ounce in New York.

Kinross Gold is off 13¢ to $6.85, Falconbridge has shed 49¢ to $29.00 and Canfor is off 42¢to $14.43.

Merger news has shares of Iamgold up 36¢ to $7.35.

South Africa’s Gold Fields Ltd. said today that it plans to take control of mid-sized Canadian gold firm Iamgold Corp in a US$2.1 billion deal which will create the world’s seventh biggest gold miner.

Gold Fields, the world’s fourth largest gold producer, is merging its international operations with Iamgold to create a new company to be renamed Gold Fields International.

The announcement from Gold Fields came a day after Iamgold said its second-quarter profit all but disappeared amid higher corporate expenses. Net earnings for Iamgold’s second quarter declined to US$77,000 , compared with US$2 million a year earlier.

The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index is down 10.24 points to 1,470.77.

On Wall Street, blue chips have rebounded off their morning lows as oil prices moderated.

At midday, the Dow Jones industrial average is off 58.63 points at 9,886.04

The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index is off 38.41 points, or 2.12%, at 1,770.29, while the S&P 500 is down 8.54 points at 1,070.50.

Today’s market slide followed a positive runup on indexes Tuesday after the U.S. Federal Reserve predicted that the recent bout of economic weakness caused by rising oil prices should be temporary.