After a choppy trading session this morning, markets are down once again at midday. The S&P/TSX index is 34 points lower to 5,901. Volume has been weak at just 61.4 million shares, with the selling outweighing the buying by about three to one. Market breadth is deeply bearish once again, as losers outnumber winners 12:5.

There is some very minor buying in sectors such as utilities and telecoms, but this is being overwhelmed by golds, which are down 2.6% after a morning of selling. There are notable drops in financials, materials, techs, real estate and consumer plays.

The weakness in financials is coming in a mixed session. Whereas loan losses are spooking traders in the world’s big banks, Canada’s banks are mostly rallying today. Meanwhile, other financials are being dropped on their heads amid news of weakness in the retail industry. Manulife Financial is down 2.7%. CIBC has lost 1.4%. But the major weakness is in retail investment firms. AGF and Assante are each down about 7%, and C.I. Funds is down 6.3%. As well, Power Corporation is weak this morning.

A broad selection of names has been weakened by news events that are making traders nervous. This includes war worries, terrorism fears and Brazilian election concerns. There is weakness in names such as Alcan, BCE, Magna, Barrick Gold, CAE, Ballard Power, and Jean Coutu.

Barrick is leading a broader selloff in golds, with traders also dumping names such as Bema Gold, Aur Resources and Goldcorp. Eldorado Gold is the odd man out: it is gaining today.

There have also been some gains in Bombardier, Cameco, Cognos, MDS, Domtar, QLT, Torstar and TransCanada Pipelines.

In business news, BW Technologies is buying Vulcain Alarme Inc., a private company located in Quebec that designs, develops and manufactures gas detection instruments used in parking garages, office towers as well as schools. The price on the deal is $7.85 million — $4 million in cash and $3.85 million in stock.

In New York, the trade has also been choppy. At midday, the Dow is clinging to a small gain. It is up 29 points to 7,557. However, the S&P 500 is down a point to 799 and Nasdaq has dropped six ticks to 1,134.

The S&P/TSX Venture index is down just a point to 938. Volume is very low there, however, at less than 9 million shares. Advantage Link is the day’s top trader, down 1¢ to 3¢ on 346,000 shares.