Markets were stuck in a fairly tight trading range this morning, as traders struggle to find some momentum.

Most of the economics data has been on the weak side this morning. U.S. jobless claims ticked up again last week, highlighting the still-jobless recovery. Also, retail sales data was weaker than expected. In Canada, it was motor vehicles sales that disappointed market watchers, dropping sharply. Many traders continue to watch Fed chairman Alan Greenspan’s ongoing Congressional testimony for clues to the future of monetary policy.

The S&P/TSX index was up just nine points to 8777 at about midday. Volume is still strong with 181.4 million shares changing hands. The buying volume has more than doubled up on the selling. Market breadth is decidedly bullish, too, with winners outnumbering losers by a margin of about 11 to eight.

At midday, the Dow was down 35 points to 10702. Nasdaq was down seven points to 2082.

The S&P/TSX Venture index is sitting on an eight-point gain at 1894. Volume remains robust there at 54.4 million shares, led by Oilexco Inc. It is down 59¢ to $2.40 in heavy trading of 4.7 million shares, on news that it is starting to drill its’ second hole in the North Sea, after earlier exploration “failed to confirm the presence of economic quantities of hydrocarbons”.

Despite the strong market internals, there is weakness in biotechs, industrials and consumer discretionary stocks, which are weighing on the market. On a sector basis, there are hardly any strong gainers. Only REITs are up more than 0.5%. Many traders appear to be sitting on their hands.

The top trader so far today is Royal Bank — it epitomizes the market’s action today — gaining just 0.3% in heavy trading. TD Bank, Bank of Montreal and Manulife are all sitting on small gains, too. CIBC is down a bit though.

The heavyweight gold group is seeing similarly uninspiring action. Barrick and Placer Dome are both up about 0.3% in active volume. There are also modest gains in names such as Inco. Alcan is strong, up 1.6%. EnCana has gained 1.2%. And, smaller names such as Tahera, Pan American Silver, Corriente Resources, NA Palladium and Breakwater Resources are all up impressively. Teck Cominco has gained almost 3% on news that it is trading some assets among subsidiaries.

Nortel is leading the tech group higher, gaining 1.7% in strong volume. There are also small gains in BCE, and SR Telecom. Royal Group Technologies is a big winner, jumping 13.3%, on news of its’ latest results for the first quarter of fiscal 2004. Net sales for the quarter were $414 million, compared with $421 million during the same period in fiscal 2003. Net earnings were $3.7 million, versus $15.9 million in the same quarter last year. However, this was clearly better than many were expecting.

Hemosol is up 8% news that it has entered into an agreement with MDS that will see a reorganization of both Hemosol’s business and certain MDS diagnostic assets. The transaction will involve a cash payment to Hemosol of $16 million along with certain other consideration. Also in the biotech group, ConjuChem is up strongly. But, Ecopia is down 3.7% in heavy trading and Angiotech has dropped 2.1%. Xillix Tech is down heavily too.

On the downside, there are some heavyweight names pushing against all the gainers. Bombardier is pulling back today, it is down 2.6%. CP Rail has dropped 1.7% in heavy volume. CAE has lost 6%. Petro Canada is down 2%. And, Thomson is down 5.6% despite news that it posted earnings per share for full-year 2003 that rose 47% to $1.34, including one-time items. Adjusted earnings for the year increased just 9% to $1.08 per share. Earnings attributable to common shares were $879 million, compared with $586 million in 2002.

Bennett Enviro is also getting a sour reaction to its’ earnings. It’s down 4.3% on news that it had fourth quarter profits of $6,397,078, up from $5,456,360 last year.

Other notable losers include Atlas Cold Storage and PrimeWest Energy Trust.

In other earnings news, Brascan Corp. saw 2003 earnings increase to US$408 million. It also achieved record cash flow from operations of $624 million, up 35%.

Canadian Tire Corp. posted net earnings of $246.6 million, an increase of 21.8% compared with $202.4 million in 2002. Trizec Canada Inc said that it earned US$203.8 million in 2003. Also, H & R REIT saw earnings increase to $90.6 million in 2003. Precision Drilling said that diluted earnings per share for the year increased 105% to $3.41 compared with $1.66 in 2002.