Stocks are trading higher Monday, with volume light as traders work under the threat of further power outages. At midday, the S&P/TSX index is up 37 points to 7,428.

Toronto volume is just 88.9 million shares, with many Ontario workers staying home, heeding calls to conserve power. Buying volume is far outpacing the selling, almost two to one. Market breadth is also decisively bullish, with winners outnumbering losers nine to seven.

Most sectors are showing gains today, led by a 1.7% bounce in tech stocks. There are also solid gains in energy plays, industrials, financials, diversifieds and consumer discretionary stocks are bouncing back. Golds are down about 1.2% as some of the flight to safety bid unwinds.

The tech gains are largely just following the U.S. higher, on optimism that the recovery there will strengthen. Nortel is leading the way, up 1.9%. ATI is up 1.3%, too. Among smaller names there are even bigger advances, with Open Text up 6.6%, research in Motion gaining 4.8% and Celestica 2.6% higher.

The banks are stronger, as analysts get geared up for their earnings announcements over the next couple of weeks. They are looking for higher profits, and this is helping to boost names such as TD Bank, up 0.8%. Royal Bank and Scotia are both making gains, too.

Elsewhere there are gains in energy names such as EnCana, Talisman Energy, Ivanhoe Energy, Ballard Power, NCE Petrofund and Gabriel Resources. First Calgary Petroleums is down however. Telus is stronger, as is CanWest Global, CN Rail and First Quantum Minerals.

There is notable weakness in golds, with slides coming in Meridian Gold, Agnico Eagle, FNX Mining and Golden Star Resources.

Vivendi Universal is down 2.5% on news that Comcast will not be bidding on the firm’s entertainment assets, and that they will explore “partnership” opportunities instead.

In M&A news, a group calling itself Corel Rescue, claiming to represent Corel’s shareholders opposed to the takeover attempt by Vector CC Holdings LLC, is appealing to Canadian and U.S. regulators, and the Superior Court of Ontario, to restore shareholder representation and to investigate the takeover arrangements for potential conflicts of interest or malfeasance by Vector CC Holdings, Corel management and board of directors.

PanGeo Pharma is selling its Wampole and Quest brands to Jamieson Laboratories, as well as its manufacturing operations in Vancouver. The transaction is expected to close this week. No price was given on the deal.

On the earnings front, Cominar REIT reports that its earnings dropped to $7.2 million in the second quarter.

Plaintree Systems reported that it lost $3.5 million in fiscal 2003.

In New York, stocks have been creeping up all morning, absent much news or volume. The Dow Jones industrial average is sitting on a 94-point gain at midday to 9,416. The Nasdaq is also strong, up 27 points to 1,729. The S&P 500 has gained eight points to 999. With such light volume, the rally doesn’t have much credibility.

The small cap traders are the only skeptics, slicing a point off the S&P/TSX Venture index to 1,240. Volume is decent there at 19.4 million shares. PGM Ventures is the day’s top trader, flat at 38¢ on 953,000 shares.