Stocks are sliding again today. At midday the TSE 300 is down 86 points to 6945. Volume is quite weak today at 64.2 million shares, with sellers holding a slight edge on buyers. Losers outnumber winners by a margin of about 9:7.

The sell-off is very broad based today. Transports are showing a minor bounce, but everything else is selling off, even golds. Miners, energy stocks, industrials, financials and conglomerates are all down. Techs are the weakest group, down about 3.5%,as recent gains are surrendered.

The tech group is led down by Celestica, Nortel Networks and C-Mac. But there is strength in names such as Research in Motion, Cryptologic and QLT.

The energy group remains in the spotlight. Canadian Hunter is a top trader, joined by Rio Alto, Pan Canadian Energy, Husky Energy, Imperial Oil and Precision Drilling, which are all sliding. Bonavista Petroleum is jumping.

The financial group is weak after ING announced that it expects a larger impact from the Sept.11 attacks. Bank of Nova Scotia is leading the way down, off 3%. But there’s also selling in Royal Bank, CIBC and TD.

Gains are coming in a diverse group of stocks such as GTC Transcon, Corby, Gildan Activewear, Emera and Timberwest Trust.

In New York, the action is down again today. The weekend brought several new anthrax exposure reports, and this morning it is being reported that Senate majority leader Tom Daschle’s office received a letter containing anthrax. Reports of new hostilities in Kashmir is spooking traders too. At midday, the Dow is down 88 points to 9255. Nasdaq is off 23 points to 1681. The S&P has dropped 11 points to 1080.

TheCDNX is weak today, too. It is down nine points to 2870. Volume is soft at 13.4 million shares. Techs are leading the way down 2%, with miners weaker and energy plays up. Rocky Old Man Energy is the top trader, flat at 20¢ on more than 2 million shares in its debut.