With the Fed announcement on interest rates now in the rear view mirror, and no major economic news out today, traders are concentrating on company-specific news. Unfortunately, this is leading to a substantial selloff. At midday, the S&P/TSX composite index is off 57 points to 8,479.

The Fed signaled yesterday that it is getting ready for to raise rates. In economic news today, jobless claims slipped in the U.S., but the four-week moving average ticked up. In Canada, industrial prices were reported higher. All of this, however, is being overlooked in favour of the flood of corporate news.

So far today on the TSX 200 million shares have changed hands with buying outpacing the selling action by a margin of about 12:7. Market breadth is very negative though, as losers outnumber winners seven to four. Some of this is profit-taking, and some of it reflects negative news.

Energy stocks are weakest, down more than 3%. There is heavy selling in golds, too, dropping 2.6%. Other sectors on the slide include materials, telecoms, techs and miners.

Consumer staples and health care stocks are the only areas of compelling resistance.

Petro Canada is leading the energy group lower, dropping 9.5% on volume of 2.3 million shares. It posted fourth quarter net earnings in 2003, including gains or losses on foreign currency translation and on disposal of assets, of $200 million, compared with $356 million in the same period of 2002. Net earnings in 2003 were $1.66 billion, compared with $974 million in the same period of 2002.

Joining Petro Canada on the downside, there’s much lighter selling in Southwestern resources, Suncor Energy, and Petrofund.

Nortel is leading the techs lower, likely due to profit taking. It is down just 0.5% in active trading of about 17 million shares.

Celestica is much weaker, down 5.6%, after reporting a loss last night and announcing the surprise resignation of its’ CEO.

Certicom and Telesystem International Wireless are also weaker. Manitoba Telecom is paring its’ recent gains, dropping 1.2%, but BCE is higher.

The gold group is seeing lots of selling today, with Placer Dome down 3.3%. Kinross is 2.2% lower, and Barrick off 1.6%. NovaGold Resouurces is down 5.6%.

The real loser today is Stelco, it has dropped 52.6% in heavy trading on news that it is seeking creditor protection and planning a restructuring.

Other, less dramatic, losers include Hydrogenics and Labopharm.

The financials are mixed again, with yesterday’s winners and losers changing positions. Bank of Montreal is up 1.2%, Royal Bank has gained 0.7%, as has CIBC. But, Sun Life is down 0.8%.

There is some good news in the market, though. QLT has gained 21% on news that Medicare in the U.S. will begin paying for its’ Visudyne product.

Persona, is up 29% in heavy trading on news that it is being bought by buyout specialists Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst, along with CIBC Capital and TD Capital Canadian Private Equity Partners. The transaction is valued at approximately $406 million. Persona is Canada’s sixth-largest cable operator.

Debt is one of the big gainers today. Both Harvest Energy Trust and Bonavista Energy Trust are seeing 5% gains in their debentures upon closing new offerings. Harvest closed an issue of $60 million of convertible unsecured subordinated debentures. And, Bonavista closed its issue of $100 million convertible sub-debt.

Fortis’ new offering of first preference units are up 3% in their debut.

CAE has gained almost 3% on news that Southwest Airlines has selected CAE for a Boeing 737-700 full-flight simulator and related flight training devices, totaling about $25 million.

Other gainers include Cameco, Ecopia, Envoy Communications and Sierra Wireless.

In M&A news, Thomson Corp. is buying privately held CCBN Inc. Financial terms were not disclosed. Thomson currently owns 10% of CCBN.

MDC Partners has acquired a majority stake in kirshenbaum bond + partners. MDC Partners purchased 60% of the firm. The purchase price will not be disclosed but will include a stock component.

Denison Energy has entered into an agreement with Forte Oil, a private Calgary-based oil and gas exploration and production company, to combine Denison’s oil and gas business and operations with those of Forte.

On the earnings front, TransAlta’s net earnings for fourth quarter 2003 were $43.8 million, up from a loss of $52.0 million in fourth quarter 2002. Net earnings for the year were $234.2 million, compared with $199.6 million for the same period in 2002.