By James Langton

(August 9 – 13:00 ET) – Canadian housing starts were reported much stronger than expected this morning, up 22.6% in July, compared to an expected 8% jump. The results confirm that weakening in May and June can largely be blamed on the strike by Ontario cement truck drivers. Nevertheless economists still see a general slowing trend.

Choppy trading in Toronto is resulting in a slight midday gain. The TSE 300 is up 29 points to 10,887. Volume is strong this morning as assorted rumours have traders busy. Seventy-four million shares have changed hands, about 8:3 in favour of buyers. Advancers are just edging decliners.

The media group is strong, up 1.7%, as are transports, pipelines and software. There’s weakess in biotechnology and engineering, pushing the consumer group down. Mines are weak, too.

Nortel is almost invisible today, although more than 3 million shares have changed hands, the stock is unchanged at midday.

Heritage Concepts is again the top trader on the Street, up 32% on more than 11.8 million shares.

Skyjack has gained 21% after announcing strong earnings. Other strong names include Bombardier, Transcanada Pipelines and Sun Life.

The big trade of the day though has been Videotron and Rogers, up 12% and 4% respectively on market rumours suggesting that Quebecor will revise its offer for Videotron to an all-cash deal. Rogers and Quebecor are battling over the firm.

C-MAC Industries Inc. says it will raise $897.7 million by issuing 10 million common shares to fund acquisitions, new facilities, and capital expenditures. As part of the deal the firm will list on the NYSE under the symbol EMS.

Memotec Communications is quashing rumours about a possible merger with Mitel Corp. The companies are denying a report in the National Post that suggests an imminent deal.

In New York, stocks are exhibiting signs of a bipolar disorder. While the Dow is off 70 points to 10,907, the Nasdaq composite has gained 38 points to 3,886. The S&P 500 is down four points to 1,478.

Nasdaq is up on Cisco’s stronger-than-expected revenue and earnings growth. The merger of Software.com and Phone.com is also boosting technology shares. The Dow is sliding after Wal-Mart earnings met expectations. J.P. Morgan, Johnson & Johnson and Home Depot slipped, too.

The CDNX is sliding, too. The index is down 30 points to 3,316 on decent volume of 16.6 million shares. Techs and mines are down, while oils are holding up. New Media Capital Inc. is the hot trader of the day, up 75% to 35¢ on 2.5 million shares.