Stocks are slumping again today, as some negative corporate news keeps investors sour on certain sectors. At midday, the S&P/TSX index is down 39 points to 7,360.

Volume remains robust at 100.5 million shares, although selling has a five to four edge on buying today. Market breadth favours losers over winners by a similar margin.

The tech group is leading the losers today after both Siebel Systems and Juniper networks made some gloomy comments about their stocks.

An insider trading arrest of the CEO of biotech firm, ImClone, has the biotechs under investor suspicion. And, there’s also weakness in consumer stocks, telecoms, industrials and financials. Energy stocks are the only group that is convincingly bucking the trend.

Nortel Networks remains the big trade today, this time it’s suffering a 9% drop to $2.64 on volume of 19 million shares, as it finally brings its massive offering to market. The firm has closed its offering of 632.5 million common shares.

Also, Shoppers Drug Mart Corp.’s secondary offering has closed, with 28 million shares priced at $23.00 per share. CIBC World Markets and Merrill Lynch Canada served as co-lead managers for the underwriting group. Other members of the underwriting syndicate were Scotia Capital Inc., RBC Dominion Securities Inc., Credit Suisse First Boston Canada Inc., TD Securities Inc. and National Bank Financial Inc. Shoppers did not receive any proceeds from the offering.

Apart from Nortel there’s plenty of weakness in the tech group, with Ballard Power down 9%, Research in Motion off 5.6%, and weakness in MDS, Shaw and Solectron.

This renewed weakness in techs and telecoms is also hitting financials, with TD Bank down 1.4%, and further slides in CIBC, Laurentian and Royal Bank.

Another big trader today is Thomson, down 1.2% on 1 million shares after announcing its latest new issue. Other losers include Co-Steel and Dofasco.

On the upside, energy plays are a bit stronger today, with gains in Talisman Energy leading the way.

There’s also some modest strength in golds with merger partners, Kinross, Echo Bay, and TVX Gold all gaining once again. But a 1% slide in Barrick is preventing any major sector gains.

Other winners include Norske Skog, Pan American Silver, and the Menu Foods Income Fund.

In earnings news, lingerie retailer La Senza has posted net earnings of $48,000 for the first quarter of fiscal 2002, compared with a net loss of $265,000 for the quarter in fiscal 2001.

Also, Moore Corp. has confirmed today that it expects Moore to report earnings per share of at least 10¢ for the second quarter, consistent with analyst expectations.

In New York, the latest corporate turmoil is also taking its toll on stocks there. The Dow Jones industrial average is down 35 points to 9,482. The S&P 500 is off by seven points to 1,006, and threatening to slip into triple digits. Nasdaq is down 15 ticks to 1,482.

The small caps are resisting the stock slide today. The S&P/TSX Venture index is up two points to 1,198. Volume is robust at 19.9 million shares. Geologix Explorations Inc. is the top trader, up 8¢ to 20¢ on 2.1 million shares.