Stocks opened lower Thursday due to some weak sales signals from Cisco Systems, and they’ve held those down positions through the morning session. At midday, the S&P/TSX index is down 41 points to 6,397.

Volume is robust at 91.4 million shares, with the selling ahead of the buying by a margin of about eight to three. Market breadth is also negative, with losers outnumbering winners 10 to seven.

Almost every sector on the TSX is down today, as market sentiment was hit by the weakness reported by Cisco and Wal-Mart. Naturally, the recently-strong tech group is leading the way down, dropping 3.4%. Consumer discretionary stocks are notably weaker, as are health care, industrials and financials.

Only the utilities are consumer discretionary stocks are showing any opposition to the selling, and then the opposition is very weak.

Nortel Networks is following Cisco down today, dropping 2% on big volume of 22.6 million shares. Zarlink Semi is dealing with the double bad news of Cisco and its own earnings, that has its stock down about 8.4% in active trading. there is also notable selling in Celestica, Research in Motion, Cognos, CAE, ATI and Ballard Power.

Fording is down 1.2% in heavy trading, as its takeover fight continues to play out.

The golds are down at the hands of Placer Dome and Barrick, which are each down about 1%. There is also some selling in names such as Onex, Decoma International, Rogers, EnCana and Canadian Natural Resources. TD Bank is leading the financial group lower, dropping 0.4% in active trading.

The upside is a mixed bag with gains in some consumer names such as Shoppers Drug Mart, Forzani and Cott. There is also strength in a mix of resource firms such as Domtar, Ensign Resource Services, Vermillion Resources, Kinross Gold, and Compton Petroleum.

In New York, the selling has been fairly dogged, too. The Dow Jones industrial average is down 177 points at midday to 8594. The S&P 500 has dropped 20 points to 904, while the Nasdaq composite is taking the hardest hit, down 40 points to 1,379.

Canadian small caps are bucking the trend once again, with the S&P/TSX Venture index up three points to 948. Volume is about average at 15.1 million shares. American Bonanza Gold is the top trader, up 7.7% on 580,000 shares.