Toronto stocks are rallying back a bit Wednesday, coming off a mixed session yesterday. At midday, the S&P/TSX composite index is up 18 points today to 6,721.

Volume is strong at 124.6 million shares, with the buying edging the selling 13:10. Market breadth is almost evenly split, with winners holding a slim 47:46 edge over losers.

On a sector basis, the market looks much more homogenous however. Every sector is showing some sort of gain, apart from consumer discretionary stocks, which are down 0.6%. Golds are the leading gainers, up 1.3%. There is also notable buying in techs, consumer staples, utilities and financials.

CIBC is leading the way higher, up 2.5% in heavy trading, amid news that it will retain control over Air Canada’s Aerogold program. Royal Bank is up 0.7%, but Scotia and TD Bank are both off a fraction. Canada Life is a little weaker, too.

Nortel continues to move higher in heavy trading. It is up another 3.2% on strong volume of 16.5 million shares. Sierra Wireless is up 14%, and CGI has gained 4%. There are also gains in names such as Rogers Communications, Alliance Atlantis, Biovail and Royal Group Tech.

Weighing against these advances, Celestica is down 1% in active trading.

The golds are a strong group once again, with Kinross up 2.5% and Barrick adding 1.6% in active trading. Meridian Gold is stronger, too, but Bema Gold is down.

Other gainers include CoolBrands, SNC Lavalin, and TransAlta.

Air Canada is leading the way lower, down 10% in active trading. There is also weakness in a selection of names including Tembec, Intrawest, Agrium, Abitibi, Potash, Four Seasons and Canadian 88. Inco is down a little in active trading.

In earnings news, Power Financial reported first quarter net earnings were $253 million, compared with $237 million in 2002.

Canadian Tire had consolidated net earnings of $32 million for the first quarter, an increase of 5.8% compared with 2002. Net earnings per share increased 3.9% to 40¢.

Baytex Energy earned $32.9 million in the first quarter.

Rona said its earnings per share rose 20.0% from a year earlier to 12¢. It also said that the increase in the net quarterly income is entirely due to internal growth and increased operating efficiency.

Destiny Resource Services reported record profits of $2,243,000 for the first quarter of 2003, compared to a loss of $558,000 for the first quarter of 2002. Destiny also reported a loss for 2002 of $16,033,000, compared with a profit of $8,021,000 for 2001.

In New York, disappointing retail sales numbers has traders talking about further rate cuts south of the border, and stocks are sliding. The Dow Jones industrial average is down 37 points to 8,643. The S&P 500 has dropped four points to 939. The Nasdaq composite index is down eight ticks to 1,532.

The small caps are down too, with the S&P/TSX Venture index dropping one and a half points to 1,067. Volume is decent at16.8 million shares. Spider Resources is leading the way once again, down half a penny to 9¢ on 658,000 shares.