Stocks are mired in the uncertainty surrounding the war in Iraq. Word that the conflict could take months, rather than days or weeks, has traders feeling a little sour. The S&P/TSX composite index is down 16 points at Thursday midday to 6,341.

Volume is uncommonly strong today at 96.3 million shares, with selling ahead of the buying by almost a two to one margin. Market breadth is decidedly negative, with losers edging winners at the rate of 10 to seven.

The strength today is in energy stocks, which are up almost 1%. Telecoms have made a slight gain.

Everything else, however, is flat to down. Diversifieds are down almost 2%, techs have dropped 1%, golds are off by 1.3%, and materials and industrials are weaker, too.

The diversifieds are being led lower by Inco, which is down 2.7%, and Falconbridge, which is down 3%. There is no real news on either firm, though. There is also weakness in resource firms such as Lionore Mining, Abitibi, Goldcorp, Placer Dome and Fording.

Against this, there are gains in energy firms, including Niko Resources, Canadian Natural Resources, Shell Canada, Baytex Energy, First Calgary Petroleums, and EnCana.

Bombardier is weak once again, down 7.6%. Other losers include Four Seasons and Open Text.

The heavily weighted financial stocks are about flat at midday, with drops coming in Bank of Montreal and Manulife Financial. However, Scotia is up 0.7%.

In New York, uncertainty about the length of the war in Iraq has put selling pressure on stocks all day. An article in today’s Washington Post predicting that the Iraq invasion could last for months has deflated investor optimism for a short conflict.

The Dow Jones industrial average is down 67 points at midday to 8,163. The S&P 500 is six points lower at 864, while the Nasdaq composite index has dropped 10 points to 1,378.

The S&P/TSX Venture has resisted the big board selling trends, to sit more or less unchanged at 1,041. Volume is about average at 17.1 million shares. Connacher Oil and Gas is the day’s top trader, up 3¢ to 42¢ on more than 4.5 million shares.