(May 31 – 13:00 ET) – Undecided traders are spelling largely directionless trading this morning. The market remains deeply split over the direction of interest rates, and as a result investors can’t decide whether to buy or sell. Friday’s U.S. employment report should help crystallize opinion. Strong GDP and current account numbers out of Statistics Canada this morning haven’t been able to move the market decisively.

At midday the TSE 300 sits virtually unchanged at 9342, after gyrating around all morning. Volume is light, too, at just 67 million shares as most traders seem to be sitting on their hands. The volume is about 3:2 in favour of buyers, and advancers are edging decliners.

The TSE sectors are evenly split between winners and losers. Leading the upside are utilities, media stocks, financials and paper stocks. The downside is being championed by industrials and golds.

Opinions concerning tech stocks are split, too. Names such as Research in Motion, Certicom, Sierra Wireless, Wi-Lan and Ballard Power are up strongly, while market giant Nortel Networks is off 2.7% on 2.7 million shares. JDS Uniphase, 724 Solutions and GT Telecom are joining Nortel on the downside.

Oil service stocks, such as Veritas Energy, are performing rather well within the energy group. Northstar Energy and Berkley Petroleum are strong, too. This comes after Enron Corp. announced a US$1 billion deal to power Quebecor’s U.S. operations. And TotalFinaElf has agreed to purchase Latin American natural gas assets from TransCanada Pipelines for about US$440 million.

Manulife Financial is leading insurance companies, and the financial sub-index, higher. Videotron Group is up 3% on optimism that its future may soon be settled. Corel Corp. has gained more than 22% in active trading.

In New York trading has been similarly lacklustre and unconvincing. At midday the Dow is up just two points to 10529. NADDAQ opened weaker and is currently down just three points in a choppy trade to 3456. The S&P 500 is virtually unchanged at 1423.

The CDNX is suffering from trading malaise, too. It is down two points to 3227. Volume is light at 14.5 million shares. Techs and energy stocks are up, while mines are weak. Intertech Minerals is the biggest trader, down 15% to 17¢ on 695,000 shares traded.