Earnings warnings and economic nervousness are banging the markets a bit today.

The TSE 300 is down 26 points at midday to 7,475.

Volume is average at 86 million shares, with sellers holding a four to three edge on buyers. Losers have a modest lead on winners.

The techs are getting slugged today. They’re down 3.4%, after yet another prominent earnings warning. This time the culprit is Juniper Networks.

Software, banks and utilities are all weaker. Gains are coming in golds, biotechs and cable stocks.

Nortel Networks is grinding lower on the heels of Juniper. It is joined by Celestica, which is taking almost twice the hit, down 7%. Solectron, Research in Motion, ATI and Descartes Systems are all down, too.

The other big area of weakness is banks, after profits in three big U.S. investment banks came in weaker. Also, instability in Argentina is not encouraging.

Argentina-exposed Bank of Nova Scotia is leading the way down, off 1.1%. CIBC, TD, Bank of Montreal and Royal Bank are all down about 1% too. Sun Life is making up some lost ground today, gaining 1.5%.

Other losers include BCE, Ballard Power, Canadian Tire, Onex, and NHC Communications.

News of a big cable deal in the U.S. has Rogers and Shaw Communications jumping today. There are also gains in Kingsway Financial, Tesco, Pangeo Pharma, Biovail, Teck, Placer Dome and Shell.

In business news, Weyerhaeuser Co says it expects its fourth quarter results to be near break-even, but it has adjusted its earnings outlook due to continued weakness in wood products prices.

CGI Group reports that it has successfully closed its public offering of class A subordinate shares for gross proceeds of $124,987,500, to a syndicate of investment dealers led by TD Securities Inc. and CIBC World Markets Inc. The net proceeds of the offering will be used to repay indebtedness, and finance its development activities.

Hollinger reports that it is abandoning its bid to go private. It does not intend to make an offer to purchase the retractable common shares of Hollinger owned by minority shareholders. Given current market conditions and business developments since Sept. 11, Hollinger management has concluded that it is not feasible to initiate a going private transaction.

In New York, stocks are slumping due to weak earnings news. The Dow Jones industrial has dropped 31 points to 10,039. The S&P 500 is off three points to 1,146. The Nasdaq composite is leading the way down though, dropping 38 points to 1,945.

The S&P/CDNX Composite Index is the only gainer today, up two points to 976, on strong volume of 23.5 million shares. Canop Worldwide Co. is the top trader, flat at 1¢ on 1.65 million shares.